Kariya Takes Wing : Ducks’ Rookie Determined to Make an Impact in First Season

The sudden bursts of acceleration along the left-wing boards already are familiar. So are the passes that send the puck sliding toward the open man like metal to a magnet.

So too is the sight of Paul Kariya turning the corner behind the net at warp speed, ready to put the puck on the stick of any Mighty Duck wise enough to hustle in front of the net and wait for the inevitable.

The Ducks finally have highlight capability, after welcoming a rookie into camp who idolizes Wayne Gretzky and says he wants to play the game of hockey the way Magic Johnson plays basketball. Whenever Kariya is on the ice, there is a chance he will try to make a breathtaking play--a no-look pass, a pass off his skates, a backhand assist behind his back.

Last season, the Ducks’ play of the game was usually a save by Guy Hebert. Sure, there was an occasional pretty goal, or a breakaway by Joe Sacco. But the Ducks won 33 games in their first season by playing grinding, disciplined defense. This season, led by a line centered by veteran Anatoli Semenov and with Kariya and fellow rookie Valeri Karpov on the wings, they actually will be fun to watch.

“It almost feels like the handcuffs are off,” says Coach Ron Wilson, who says he doesn’t want to be known as “a plodding, defensive-minded coach” but acknowledges the Ducks had no option last season if they were going to have any success.

Kariya, 19, who signed a three-year, $6.5-million contract Aug. 31, is preparing to make one of the most anticipated NHL debuts in recent years, provided there is no lockout. His 5-foot-10, 170-pound body has been considered his one drawback--and the reason he lasted until the fourth pick in the 1993 draft. Kariya knows he will have to make adjustments to play in the NHL and, after two exhibition games, already has begun.

In his NHL exhibition debut, against Dallas on Tuesday, Kariya had a goal and an assist, but sat at his stall after the game, dissatisfied.

The game had been at least a couple of notches more physical and intense than an intrasquad scrimmage, and Kariya knew the regular season would be yet another step.

“It was a learning experience,” he said. “I have to learn what I can and can’t do at this level. . . . Nothing comes just like that. It takes years, not just one game, to learn to play at this level.”

The game was a physical one, and Dallas players took aim at Anaheim’s hotshot rookie more than once. Craig Ludwig welcomed him to the NHL with a hit that knocked his helmet off--one of a few runs that led Wilson to say he made a mistake by leaving tough guys Stu Grimson and Todd Ewen at home.

“When they had a chance to give me a shot, they gave me a shot. That’s the game of hockey,” Kariya said. “(But) I put myself in positions where they could do that.”

He found fault with his play, regretting that he hadn’t established his speed early to force the defense to back off, disappointed that he hadn’t seen more quickly that Dallas was playing him to make his cutback moves. Dallas’ checking line kept such close tabs on him, he wasn’t able to carry the puck the way he is accustomed to doing.

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The Ducks expect him to find ways to counter most of what the NHL throws at him. Already, he has a quick bailout move to avoid big hits, and although no shrinking violet, he does pick his spots. No sooner was the game over than Kariya was thinking about what he would do differently in his next.

His ability to shape his game to the circumstances has been proven in the past year. When the Ducks drafted him, he had just become the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award, which recognizes the best U.S. college hockey player--and has been no guarantee of NHL success in the past.

But by the time they signed him 14 months later, he had starred for Canada’s silver-medal winning Olympic team and, more impressively, for the gold-medal winning World Championship team in a tournament well stocked with NHL players.

His second NHL exhibition game, against San Jose in Denver on Wednesday, was different entirely from his first. Instead of a tight-checking, hard-hitting game, it was a wide-open finesse game, and Kariya was spectacular.

Ironically, he was also pointless, even though his performance was far better than in the previous game. But he had near breakaways, pushing the puck out ahead and then accelerating around the defense to pick it up, and he set up teammates for terrific chances--chances no one cashed in on.

Wilson thinks the Kariya-Semenov-Karpov line could mean to Anaheim what the Johan Garpenlov-Igor Larionov-Sergei Makarov line meant to San Jose last season. One of the few flaws he sees is occasional over-passing by Kariya and Semenov.

Karpov, 23, whom the Ducks drafted in the third round in 1993 but were unable to sign until this summer after he had played for Russia in the Olympics, is in position to capitalize. Just as Kariya did, Karpov had a goal and an assist in his debut. If Kariya weren’t around, Karpov, With his strength and mature play, would be the rookie hotshot.

Semenov, 32, who played in Russia until 1990, had his best NHL season in 1992-93 while playing on a line with Pavel Bure in Vancouver. He knows Kariya isn’t as strong or quite as rocket-fast as Bure, but, he says, “same thinking.”

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“Paul plays like a Russian,” Semenov said. “He plays like Pavel Bure. He has speed and he’s smart.”