Ducks Begin Building From Scratch : Hockey: Coin toss will determine which expansion team will draft first.

Today is the day the Mighty Ducks begin to grow from an organization that is merely mighty at selling T-shirts, season tickets and luxury suites into an actual team.

The NHL expansion draft will give the Ducks 24 players of their own.

This is the day General Manager Jack Ferreira has been pointing toward for six months, but now illness might force him to lead the selection of the team’s first players from his hotel room here.

Ferreira is suffering from a condition similar to an extreme sunburn and infection over much of his body after having a violent reaction to a June 14 light treatment for psoriasis. He worked from home most of last week and endured an overnight flight from Los Angeles on Monday hoping he would improve. But he was pessimistic Wednesday about making it to the downtown theater where the selections will be made.

“I can barely walk across the room,” he said. “I just hope tomorrow I can get up and go over there.”

If he does not attend, Ferreira will work via the phone with assistant GM Pierre Gauthier and the scouting staff.

One piece of news Wednesday was that the leading goal-scorer available in the expansion draft--Boston’s Dmitri Kvartalnov--has been pulled out of the pool of players. NHL President Gil Stein said Kvartalnov has been given an exemption as a first-year pro because he did not sign with an NHL team until the Bruins drafted him last year, even though he played with the San Diego Gulls in 1991-92.

The Ducks didn’t expect to see Kvartalnov on the unprotected list but were disappointed to see him erased.

“Well, another loophole--there goes the 30-goal scorer,” said Ferreira, adding that Kvartalnov would have been among the first forwards chosen, though probably not the first. “What can you do? We didn’t have him yet.”

The focus of the draft is on goaltending, and the flip of a coin today for the No. 1 pick will decide whether the Ducks or Florida Panthers get the premier goalie--either John Vanbiesbrouck or Kay Whitmore, both of Vancouver.

If the Panthers win the toss, they will take Vanbiesbrouck; Florida Coach Roger Neilson, formerly Vanbiesbrouck’s coach with the New York Rangers, told him so.

The Ducks say Vanbiesbrouck and Whitmore are their “No. 1 and No. 1-A.”

The choice is between Vanbiesbrouck, 29, a former Vezina Trophy winner with a salary of $1.15 million, and Whitmore, 26, who made only $375,000 last year.

But the call won’t be made purely on the basis of salary.

“Your goaltender is a major impact guy, so it shouldn’t,” Gauthier said.

The leftover Canuck goalie will stay in Vancouver because no team is allowed to lose more than one goalie.

Among the other goalies on the Ducks’ list are the New York Islanders’ Glenn Healy, a former King whose inspired play who helped lead the playoff upset of Pittsburgh; Toronto’s Daren Puppa, a 1990 all-star with Buffalo; St. Louis’ Guy Hebert; Edmonton’s Ron Tugnutt and Dallas’ Darcy Wakaluk, 27, who is expected to be taken by one of the expansion teams.

Goaltending is so crucial because there will be precious little scoring available. On the list of hundreds of unprotected players, there are only four 20-goal scorers--Tampa Bay’s Chris Kontos with 27, San Jose’s Kelly Kisio with 26--Kisio is a free agent who isn’t likely to be drafted because he is free to sign with the team of his choice--Hartford’s Terry Yake with 22 and Chicago’s Michel Goulet, with 23.

On the list of defensemen, Ferreira sees Chicago’s Craig Muni among the veterans, and Montreal’s Sean Hill and Pittsburgh’s Paul Stanton among the good young players.

“Now is the exciting time. All your work is done and you finally know why you’ve done it all year,” said Ferreira, who has conducted 10 mock drafts with his staff, three since Tuesday morning. “After all the drafts, the reality is now you have a team.”

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this story.

Slim Pickings

Top scorers in 1992-93 among players available for the expansion draft

Player Pos Age Team G A Pts Kelly Kisio* C 33 San Jose 26 52 78 Terry Yake C 24 Hartford 22 31 53 Chris Kontos LW 29 Tampa Bay 27 24 51 John Cullen C 28 Toronto 18 32 50 Denis Savard C 32 Montreal 16 34 50 Dave Poulin* C 34 Boston 16 33 49 Anatoli Semenov LW/C 31 Vancouver 12 37 49 Michel Goulet LW 33 Chicago 23 21 44 Todd Elik C 27 Edmonton 14 27 41 Greg Paslawski RW 31 Calgary 18 24 42 Vladimir Ruzicka* C 30 Boston 19 22 41 Peter Stastny* C 36 New Jersey 17 23 40 Mike Krushelnyski C/LW 33 Toronto 19 20 39 Doug Crossman D 32 St. Louis 10 28 38 Tom Kurvers D 30 New York Islanders 8 30 38 Mark Howe D 38 Detroit 3 31 34 Neal Broten C 33 Dallas 12 21 33 Greg Gilbert LW 31 Chicago 13 19 32 Gary Leeman* RW/D 29 Montreal 15 17 32 Wayne Presley RW 28 Buffalo 15 17 32 Dimitri Mironov D 27 Toronto 7 24 31 Craig MacTavish C 34 Edmonton 10 20 30 Gerard Gallant LW 29 Detroit 10 20 30

* Free agents: Expansion teams may draft no more than four free agents--one goaltender, two defensemen and two forwards. The Mighty Ducks and Florida are unlikely to draft unrestricted free agents--such as Kisio and Poulin--because such players are free to sign with any team. If an expansion team drafts a restricted free agent, the expansion team has a right to match any offer to re-sign the player.