Expansion Pool a Bit Shallow : Pro hockey: Ducks seek talent but the players available are not among the finest in the NHL.

The Mighty Ducks could put together a team of all-stars from the players left unprotected for Thursday’s NHL expansion draft in Quebec City, Canada.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, they were 1980s all-stars.

Detroit’s Mark Howe, 38, Washington’s Rod Langway, 36--already a part-time coach--and San Jose’s Doug Wilson, 35, are among the defensemen available.

Some prominent--and aging--forwards are the Kings’ Dave Taylor, 37, New Jersey’s Peter Stastny, 36, Boston’s Dave Poulin, 34, Hartford’s Tim Kerr, 33, Chicago’s Michel Goulet, 33, Dallas’ Neal Broten, 33, and Montreal’s Denis Savard, 32.

Players on their last legs, youngsters trying to get a leg up, and players whose salaries cost their teams an arm and a leg are the sort of leftovers the $50-million expansion fee will buy.

“We’ll get two goalies who can play in the league, some older, experienced defensemen, and up front, a lot of checkers and third- and fourth-line players,” said Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira, who called the quality of the players available “not much different” from when he was drafting for the expansion San Jose Sharks in 1991.

“There are very few scorers available,” he said.

The highest scoring players left unprotected are Kelly Kisio, who led San Jose with 78 points but will be a free agent and is expected to re-sign with the Sharks, and Boston’s Dmitri Kvartalnov, who finished with 72 points and 30 goals, making him the only 30-goal scorer available.

Kvartalnov, 27, was the Bruins’ top entry-draft pick last year.

“We didn’t want to do it,” Bruin General Manager Harry Sinden said. “But we felt it was in our best interest to keep everyone else.”

Among the other forwards available are Tampa Bay’s Chris Kontos, Vancouver’s Anatoli Semenov, Montreal’s Guy Carbonneau, and Toronto’s John Cullen and Mike Krushelnyski.

Among defensemen, Chicago veteran Craig Muni is available, along with Tom Kurvers of the New York Islanders. New Jersey did not protect defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatanov, but if newly acquired goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz is taken, the expansion guidelines won’t allow the Devils to lose a defenseman.

There are two young defensemen--Pittsburgh’s Paul Stanton, 25, and Montreal’s Sean Hill, 23--who caught Ferreira’s eye.

Quite clearly, the new teams’ best chance to help themselves in the draft will be at goaltender.

The NHL attempted to assure that the Ducks and Florida Panthers would get quality goalies by allowing teams to protect only one. But a flurry of trades over the weekend took Ron Hextall and Jimmy Waite off the list, and left the expansion teams to settle for either John Vanbiesbrouck or Kay Whitmore--both left unprotected by Vancouver after a weekend trade--as the likely No. 1 pick.

A coin toss Thursday before the draft will allow the winner to choose either first or take the second and third goaltenders.

That flip became a lot more crucial when it became clear fewer Vanbiesbrouck and Whitmore won’t both be drafted. Each of the 24 teams will lose two players and each team can lose one defenseman and one goaltender. If a goaltender is lost, that team cannot lose a defenseman.

“It’s pretty important,” Ferreira said.

Other available goalies include Toronto’s Daren Puppa, St. Louis’ Guy Hebert, Edmonton’s Ron Tugnutt, Dallas’ Darcy Wakaluk and the Islanders’ Glenn Healy.

“Those are all considerations now,” said Ferreira, who will draft three. “Basically, they’re the major considerations.”

Not all the players selected by the Ducks and Panthers Thursday will stay with the first-year teams. On Friday, there will be a second phase of the expansion draft, in which Ottawa, Tampa Bay and San Jose get to draft from the Ducks and the Panthers, who can protect one goalie, five defensemen and 10 forwards and lose up to six overall.

After drafting a player, a 1992 team must drop from its protected list another player at that position, which can in turn be taken by a 1993 team.

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Long considered the Kings’ goaltender of the future, Robb Stauber feels like their goaltender of the past.

Angry at being left unprotected for Thursday’s NHL expansion draft, Stauber said Monday that he might be better off elsewhere. He has been in the King organization since 1989 and finally broke through this season, going 15-8-4 with a 3.84 goals-against average. Stauber, 25, was in goal when the Kings clinched their first-round playoff series against Calgary.

“I wouldn’t classify being taken (in the draft) as a bad move,” he said. “I’ve been left unprotected two years in a row. I’ve been through a lot here. It’s something you can’t control.

“It isn’t so ideal to be here. You have to come up with what’s best for me. I thought I had a good year. Obviously, it was not good enough.”

For the expansion draft, each team is allowed to protect one goalie, which forced the Kings to choose between Stauber and 32-year-old Kelly Hrudey. Not protecting Hrudey, who helped them reach the Stanley Cup final, would have been a public relations disaster.

Stauber knew five days ago that the Kings would protect Hrudey. Even knowing, however, did not soften the blow when King General Manager Nick Beverley called Sunday night.

“The thing that bothers me the most is, I’m supposed to be the guy of the future,” Stauber said. “It’s just a lie.”

Because there is a surplus of quality goaltenders available, it is possible that Stauber will remain in Los Angeles. For him, though, that is not a positive prospect.

“If I don’t get picked up, they’ll use it as a negative,” he said. “They hold all the cards.”