DUCKS NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Ferreira Says He Doesn’t Plan to Spend a Ton of Money on Free Agents

It’s free-agent season in the NHL, but don’t expect the Walt Disney Co.’s billions to mean the Mighty Ducks will be spending freely.

Part of that is corporate philosophy. Part of it is expansion philosophy.

“It doesn’t make sense to go out and spend a ton of money on one guy when he’s not going to make the difference between you making the playoffs or not,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “There are not a lot of people out there that can make that type of impact.”

Ferreira expects to sign three to five free agents, with the team focusing on players who are unrestricted free agents, giving their former teams no matching rights or compensation rights.

“We want players that can upgrade our skill level,” said Ferreira, who will focus on forwards and perhaps an offensive-type defenseman.

One priority is signing Steven King, who was the Ducks’ first choice among forwards in the expansion draft and is a restricted free agent, giving the Ducks the right to retain him by matching other offers. King had 12 points in 24 games with the Rangers and 68 in 53 games with Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

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Trader Jack? That might take awhile. Ferreira said trade possibilities appear slim with his thin roster and his reluctance to trade future draft picks.

“When you’re an expansion team, you’re like the little kid on the block,” he said. “The older kids keep telling you, ‘Come play with us when you grow up.’ ”

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Fedotov’s Feat: Defenseman Anatoli Fedotov, who was the Ducks’ 10th-round choice in the entry draft, is believed to be the first player ever drafted who already had appeared in an NHL game, The Hockey News reported.

Fedotov, 27, played for Moncton of the American Hockey League last season under an amateur contract. The Winnipeg Jets called him up during the season and he played one game--recording two assists--before he was ruled ineligible to play in the NHL because he was an undrafted European. NHL rules require that Europeans must be drafted, regardless of their age, before they can play in the league.

The Ducks are hoping Fedotov can help them immediately next season.

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Duck-for-a-Day Update: Glenn Healy, the most illustrious ex-Duck--”I think I’m the first,” he said, laughing--talked to the press Monday for the first time since his four-teams-in-two-days odyssey during draft week.

The former King goaltender was in Ireland during the wheeling and dealing that eventually sent the New York Islanders’ playoff hero to the team’s most hated rival, the New York Rangers.

“I never would have envisioned, coming back from vacation, that I wouldn’t have been a New York Islander,” said Healy, who expected to be protected from the expansion draft after helping the team upset two-time defending champion Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup playoffs but was exposed after the Islanders traded for Ron Hextall.

Healy is a restricted free agent, meaning the Rangers have the right to retain him by matching any offer he signs.

That status was one of the reasons the Ducks protected the first goalie they chose in the expansion draft, Guy Hebert, instead of Healy. That left open the door for Tampa Bay to claim Healy in Phase II and quickly trade him to the Rangers, robbing the Ducks of their most recognizable name.

“Within two days, I was an Anaheim Duck and a Tampa Bay Lightning,” Healy said. “As soon as somebody said, ‘Good luck, where are you going to live?’ I found out I was with another team.”

Still, Healy said he could have dealt with being a Duck.

“I think it was a real honor to be picked,” he said. “There were a lot of fine goaltenders available, as far as the pool. If I had the opportunity (to play for the Ducks) I would have taken full advantage of the situation, like you do with any team you play for. You make the best of it. If I played for them I would have enjoyed it. I enjoyed playing in L.A.”

Instead, he must get used to going from New York . . . to New York.

“Going from a team we took to the semifinals to jumping over the bridge to the team that’s been our No. 1 rival takes time to get used to,” he said. “If I sit down and think about it, I still feel like a New York Islander even though my rights belong to the Rangers.”

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McNab Named: The hiring of former Ranger scout David McNab as the Ducks’ director of player personnel was announced Wednesday--more than 2 1/2 months after he accepted the position and it was widely reported.

The announcement was delayed because of an agreement between the Rangers and Ducks that McNab would not switch teams until after the draft. So even though his seat at the June 26 draft was at the Ranger table, his ears were attuned to the Ducks’ selections.

“I kept my word and stayed at the Rangers’ table until after their last pick,” McNab said. “Then I made my statement by sitting down at the Mighty Ducks’ table. Of course, by then, they were already gone.”

McNab said last week he was eager for the news to be released.

“It’s been my dream to make the transactions list in the paper,” he said.

McNab is the son of Max McNab, the former general manager of the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils, and the brother of former NHL player Peter McNab. He will remain based in Minneapolis, scouting college and high school players as well as supervising the team’s scouting and player development departments.

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Assistant Search: Coach Ron Wilson said a leading candidate for one of two assistant coaching positions is Al Sims, coach of the Ft. Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League. Sims was one of three finalists for the Ducks’ head coaching job.