Advertisement

Ducks Hope to Retain All Three Goaltenders : Hockey: New team drafted Hebert, Healy and Tugnutt. Only one may be kept out of second phase of draft, which is today.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Mighty Ducks on Thursday drafted the man who will become their starting goaltender, and his initials are G.H.

Guy Hebert? The kid from New York State whose mother calls him Guy as in Lombardo and Hebert with a hard H and T, while the hockey world has settled on the French pronunciation?

Or Glenn Healy, the wise-cracking former King who got hot during the playoffs?

One of them is the fellow who will be asked to stop a barrage of pucks this fall.

The Ducks took Hebert from St. Louis with the second pick overall, but the Islanders’ Healy was right on his heels at No. 3.

Advertisement

And when General Manager Jack Ferreira was asked which of his three new goalies would be shielded from today’s Phase II expansion draft, he hesitated. It wasn’t automatic.

Thursday evening, the Ducks were leaning toward protecting Hebert and exposing Healy and No. 3 goalie Ron Tugnutt from Edmonton to the secondary expansion draft today, which gives Tampa Bay, Ottawa and San Jose a chance to select from the new 1993 teams.

But the Ducks are betting they won’t lose Healy and maybe not even Tugnutt.

Healy, who made $250,000 last year, is a restricted free agent, which means the Ducks--or any team that drafts him--have the right to keep him only by matching other offers. That could get quite expensive. Islander General Manager Don Maloney, who tried to sign Healy before leaving him unprotected, said it could take in the neighborhood of $1 million a year.

“We thought the money might scare other teams away. Obviously, it didn’t,” said Maloney, who said he “absolutely” will consider pursuing Healy.

The Ducks have another factor working to their advantage. If Tampa Bay, Ottawa or San Jose chooses a goalie from a 1993 team, they must then allow that team to choose a player of the same position from their team--and they can protect only two goalies.

The logic is that Ottawa and San Jose might not be in the market for another goalie at that price.

Advertisement

Tampa Bay is, but the Lightning has worked out a deal with Florida, which took Daren Puppa Thursday and is to leave him unprotected today in exchange for Tampa Bay’s third-round choice in the entry draft Saturday.

So the Ducks might be able to skate through Phase II without a scratch, unless you count the possibility of losing one of their bottom three defensemen or bottom three forwards.

That doesn’t mean Tugnutt is resting easy.

“I’m kind of holding back to see what happens to me,” he said. “I was thinking that by Thursday afternoon, I’d know where I stand. But now I’ve got to wait another day to see if I get picked or traded somewhere.”

Healy, meanwhile, might be blissfully unaware. He left for a European vacation this month, and his agent, Larry Rauch, hasn’t spoken to him.

“He left before the Ron Hextall trade,” Rauch said, meaning Healy might not know he wasn’t protected in the draft.

.

‘I decided I’ll wait until we get through the reverse draft to try to call him,” said Rauch, who met with Ferreira Thursday and planned to begin negotiations next week. “I don’t want to interrupt his vacation until I know something.”

Advertisement
Advertisement