Four Names on Ducks’ Entry Draft List

The Mighty Duck jerseys have been prepared, the names are stitched and perfect. One says Kariya, one says Niedermayer, one says Gratton and one says Pronger.

One of them will be the Ducks’ choice in the first round of their first NHL entry draft today, it’s all but certain.

The team’s first draft was Thursday, when it was stocked with experienced players in the expansion draft. But those were leftovers. Today, with the fourth or fifth choice--decided by a coin flip against the Florida Panthers--the Ducks will get one of the cream of the amateur crop.

Ducks officials met with Paul Kariya on the eve of the draft Friday to interview the University of Maine freshman, a dazzling playmaker who has caught the eyes of General Manager Jack Ferreira and his assistant, Pierre Gauthier.

Kariya, along with Rob Niedermayer and Chris Gratton, are the most likely players to fall to the Ducks in either the fourth or fifth spot. The team has its five top prospects ranked in order, and will take the highest one remaining.

Alexandre Daigle, the French-speaking star of the Victoriaville Tigres who Ferreira says “has preordained superstar written across his forehead,” will be taken No. 1 by the Ottawa Senators barring a dramatic change of mind or a huge trade--such as some of those rumored wildly for days.

The Central Scouting Bureau ranks Chris Pronger, Gratton, Niedermayer and Kariya behind him, in that order. The Ducks list is different, but they won’t say how.

The San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lightning hold the second and third picks, though both have also been rumored to be considering trading or picking almost any of the above or Viktor Kozlov, a Russian.

In any case, Pronger, a 6-foot-6 defenseman, figures to go before the fourth pick, effectively eliminating him from the Duck plans.

With picks two and three unclear, the Ducks potentially are looking at Kariya, who won the Hobey Baker award as the best U.S. college hockey player this year; Gratton, a big center who Ferreira says is like a Karl Malone on skates and might become a 100-point scorer, or Niedermayer, a fast-skating center who is the brother of New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer.

“Myself, I’ve heard lately that San Jose is going to take me second, and also that Anaheim will take me fourth,” said Kariya, a Japanese-Canadian whose only drawback is considered to be his slight 5-10, 158-pound frame.

NHL notes

The Kings do not have a first-round selection. Their pick--the 16th overall--went to Edmonton as the final piece in the 1988 Wayne Gretzky deal. . . . The Boston Bruins traded goalie Andy Moog to the Dallas Stars for goalie Jon Casey. . . . Billy Smith, Steve Shutt, Guy Lapointe and Edgar Laprade were voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.