MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Kariya is Driven to Succeed in Training Camp : ROBYN NORWOOD

At long last, Paul Kariya has arrived, and he quickly issued a word to the wise Sunday.

“I’d advise people in California to stay off the streets,” he said.

Kariya, 19, finally got his driver’s license this summer.

And you thought it took him a long time to sign with the Mighty Ducks?

“I have to say, it was probably the biggest achievement of my life,” Kariya said--meaning the license.

This is a young man whose “What I Did This Summer” essay would include winning a gold medal for Canada at the World Championships and signing a three-year, $6.5 million contract with the Ducks. And getting his license comes in at No. 1?

“I was in a lot of accidents when I was with my friends when they first got their licenses at 16 or 17,” said Kariya, who had little reason to drive when he played junior hockey in Penticton, Canada, or at Maine. “I was so afraid to get it.”

There were no serious injuries in the accidents, but Kariya, who was the passenger in a car that spun five or six times, prefers to do his 360s on the ice. He realized, though, that it would be tough to be an NHL player in Southern California if he had to find a ride to practice every day.

So did he cruise up in a BMW convertible on his first day at work?

“No, no, that’s the farthest thing from my mind,” said Kariya, who will take the shuttle bus from the hotel to the arena. “I don’t even want to think about getting a car. I want to have a good training camp and make the team.”

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New captain: Randy Ladouceur will be captain, replacing Troy Loney, who was traded to the New York Islanders in June.

Ladouceur--who at 34 is the Ducks’ oldest player--has been an NHL team captain before (Hartford). A stay-at-home defenseman preparing for his 13th NHL season, Ladouceur was an assistant captain last season, as were Todd Ewen and Stu Grimson. Coach Ron Wilson, who probably will announce his decision today, picked Ladouceur to replace Loney, keeping Ewen and Grimson as assistants and naming Bob Corkum as an assistant. Corkum also replaces Loney as the team’s representative in the NHL Players Assn.

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Modest pair: Kariya and Oleg Tverdovsky, the Ducks’ two teen-age millionaires, have arrived for their first training camp with bulging pockets but not much swagger.

“He called me Mr. Wilson again, “ Coach Ron Wilson said of Kariya.

At 39, Wilson isn’t even called Coach by most of his players, simply Ron.

“Right now, everyone is pretty much mister to me,” said Kariya, who will take the ice with his teammates for the first time around 2:30 p.m. today in a public session at The Pond. “It’s something I was brought up with, respecting your elders as people who have a lot more experience in life. Teammates are always personal, but coaches and management are mister to me.”

Tverdovsky, 18, an offensively talented defenseman with as youthful a face as Kariya, is far less well-known. He actually was a higher draft pick than Kariya, going second overall in June (Kariya was fourth last year), but his contract will pay him $2.3 million less over three years. Tverdovsky said “that’s fair.”

“One shouldn’t really make that comparison because Kariya is the champion of the world and an offensive player,” Tverdovsky said.

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Kariya benched: Neither Kariya nor Tverdovsky is expected to be in uniform for the Ducks’ first exhibition game Sunday against the Kings at the San Diego Sports Arena.

“I don’t anticipate those guys playing in a game like that,” Wilson said. “I expect that game to be physical, and that’s because the Kings have spent all summer trying to become more physical, and I think that’s a response to us. We’ll dress as big and physical a team as we can. I expect the Kings to do the same.”

Kariya and Tverdovsky are more likely to play Sept. 13 at Dallas.

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Labor update: Players paid their travel expenses to camp and will not receive per diem under unilateral rule changes Commissioner Gary Bettman imposed Thursday.

“No meal money and no training camp expenses definitely doesn’t make the players that happy,” Corkum said. “But we realize it’s not something just Disney is doing, it’s the league collectively. We’ll still go work as hard as we can and come to work with smiles on our faces.”