MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Tanner Talks a Big Game in the Crease

John Tanner, one of six goalies in camp with the Mighty Ducks, has a reputation.

“Outspoken,” people say, with a hint of mystery. “Very confident about himself.”

What exactly do they mean? Well, says Pierre Gauthier, the Ducks’ assistant general manager, this, for example.

When the Quebec Nordiques were considering drafting Tanner in 1989, the goalie was quite the self-assured 18-year-old. Gauthier was the Nordiques’ chief scout.

“He said, ‘Mr. Gauthier, you should draft me. I’m another Ken Dryden.’

“Then after we drafted him, he came to the table and said the other teams had made a big mistake.

“Get the picture?”

Tanner shrugs.

“I would never have said I was another Ken Dryden,” he said, deadpan. “Gerry Cheevers was my favorite goalie.”

Tanner, who is 6 feet 3 and considers his sweater number (No. 1) an accurate assessment of himself, has a reputation for more than his wit and loquaciousness. He’s also a very talented goalie, one Gauthier says was the best in the Nordiques camp three years in a row--with Stephane Fiset, Ron Hextall and Jacques Cloutier as the competition.

“I was the best goalie in camp,” Tanner said. “It’s not bragging. Just because you’re the best goalie in camp doesn’t mean you get the Vezina Trophy.”

Even if he were the best goalie in Duck camp, it might not get him anything but a ride to San Diego, where he spent the end of last season after the Ducks acquired him for a draft pick following the Ron Tugnutt trade.

Guy Hebert and Mikhail Shtalenkov are the Ducks’ goalies, and Coach Ron Wilson says Tanner would have to stand on his head while Hebert and Shtalenkov fell on their faces for him to end up on the opening-night roster.

But after escaping what had become a hopeless situation in Quebec, Tanner is optimistic.

“There’s more light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

Tanner, 23, has a 2-11-5 record in the NHL.

“One year he started the year and played fine, but it was a lousy club that wasn’t very good defensively,” Gauthier said. “It would have been tough on any goaltender.”

Plus there was that little conflict with then-Nordique General Manager Pierre Page. “We had a war of words,” said Tanner, who thinks a Fiset in Quebec has a better chance of winning a job than a Tanner.

“Sometimes after a while a guy needs a new life,” Gauthier said. “Sometimes after going to a new organization, people show improvement.”

Duck Notes

Rookies Paul Kariya and Valeri Karpov each had a goal and an assist during their side’s 5-2 victory in an intrasquad game Friday at The Pond of Anaheim. . . . Garry Valk (appendectomy recover) scrimmaged for the first time Friday, as did Shaun Van Allen (sore back).

Scratches were Oleg Tverdovsky (groin), Todd Ewen (knee bruise), Dean Ewen (ill) and Jeremy Stevenson (groin).