Ducks Face a Monday Deadline for Signing Draft Pick

The Mighty Ducks face a Monday deadline to sign Oleg Tverdovsky, the No. 2 pick overall in the June draft--or risk being without him all season.

“There’s an urgency because there’s a deadline. . . . We have to get it done over the weekend,” said General Manager Jack Ferreira, who met last weekend with Tverdovsky’s agent, Don Meehan, but said negotiations are in the preliminary stages. “We’re not close.”

None of the players drafted this June have signed NHL contracts yet, but the unexpectedly early deadline affecting Tverdovsky is the result of a July 28 agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The agreement, which covers issues of player development and international competition, requires that European players must be signed by Aug. 15 to be eligible to play in the NHL in the coming season. The deadline for other players is Oct. 1.

If Tverdovsky isn’t signed in time to play, it would be a dubious distinction for the Ducks, who have had two top-four picks in two drafts and have yet to sign either Tverdovsky or Paul Kariya, the fourth pick overall in 1993.

In Tverdovsky’s case, Ferreira isn’t counting on getting an extension or finding a way around the new rule.

“We’re going by it,” he said. Exactly what would happen if no agreement is reached is unclear, but Ferreira said he could try to negotiate directly with Tverdovsky’s Moscow team, Krylja Sovetov. “Then his team’s holding the cards and they could say ‘No, we’re not going to let him go at all (this season).’ ”

The Ducks, who passed over highly rated center Radek Bonk in favor of Tverdovsky, a defenseman, view him as the point man of the future for their struggling power play, and they’ve made no secret they would like him to make their team this season. However, even if he signs in time to be eligible, there’s still a chance the team would decide he should return to his Moscow team or play in the minors.

“Obviously, he’d upgrade our team, but you have to (make a contract offer) within reason,” Ferreira said. “It would be nice to have him here.”

Kariya had the Ducks’ blessing when he chose to return to the University of Maine and play for Canada in the Olympics instead of signing before last season. But since negotiations began after the Olympics, Ferreira has been locked in a stalemate with Kariya’s agent, Don Baizley, for most of the last six months. With the opening of training camp 3 1/2 weeks away, talks are more or less on hold while Baizley awaits a response from the NHL on questions about Kariya’s status if he doesn’t sign this year.

“From our perspective, we have to know what we’re selling,” Baizley said.

Ferreira is growing impatient.

“We want to negotiate. He wants to know all his options,” Ferreira said. “We want the kid here in the fall.”

If Tverdovsky is to be in Anaheim in the fall, the safe route is for Ferreira to strike a deal by Monday.

“Who knows, a contract can be done in an hour,” Ferreira said.