He Hasn't Skated Through Life

By ROBYN NORWOOD

June 22, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ST. LOUIS —

Chris Phillips could become the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft today, but his father will not be able to see the expression on his son’s face and his mother will not be able to stand and applaud.

Phillips was 10 when a virus attacked his mother’s spinal cord, leaving Carol Phillips partially paralyzed. Two years later, the effects of diabetes left his father, Garth Phillips, legally blind.

The couple’s two children “grew up fast,” said Phillips, a strapping 18-year-old defenseman from Fort McMurray, a city of about 40,000 in Alberta, Canada. He played junior hockey with the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Ottawa Senators will probably take Phillips first overall today unless they opt for Russian defenseman Andrei Zyuzin or trade the pick.

The Mighty Ducks will select lower than fourth for the first time in their four-year history, with the ninth pick overall. The Kings don’t have a first-round pick this year after sending it to Washington in the trade for Dimitri Khristich and Byron Dafoe last summer, but General Manager Sam McMaster already made a splash at the draft by acquiring goaltender Stephane Fiset from Colorado on Thursday.

Phillips, considered big for a hockey player at 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, gets high marks from scouts for his physical play and poise, as well as for the maturity that may have developed in part because of his family’s difficulties.

“It’s crazy, especially my mom, because it happened so suddenly,” Phillips said. “You have to ask yourself why. But you can’t sit there and be down about it. My mom and dad stayed real positive, and that helped us out as we went through it.”

Phillips was not yet a teenager when he and his older sister, Jennifer, took on much of the family’s cooking, shopping and laundry.

“With our disabilities, he jumped right in and did so much around the house,” said Phillips’ father, whose remaining vision allows him to follow a hockey game and recognize “a great goal, a great pass,” though he can’t always tell which player made the play.

As for his son’s ability around the house, Garth Phillips says, “He made his mistakes, like everybody else, but he was always willing to learn.”

“I did a lot of the cooking,” Chris said. “Sometimes I screwed up.”

Unappetizing but edible meals?

“They were pretty bad,” Jennifer said, laughing.

“We sort of keep that to ourselves,” his father said.

Phillips is at the top of a draft class that has been much maligned, with few prospects considered ready to play in the NHL next season other than perhaps Phillips, Zyuzin or Alexandre Volchkov, a Moscow native who was considered the top prospect before breaking his ankle in January.

The Ducks don’t expect to get a player in the class of Paul Kariya, Oleg Tverdovsky or Chad Kilger, the team’s previous No. 1 picks.

“We’re pretty sure the guy we get is not going to be ready next year,” said David McNab, the team’s assistant general manager and chief scout. “You draft strictly on the basis of who you think the best players will be three years from now.”

McNab and General Manager Jack Ferreira are considering centers Boyd Devereaux and Josh Holden and defensemen Richard Jackman and Cory Sarich, all Canadian junior players. They’ve also looked at center Erik Rasmussen, a forward from the University of Minnesota who is expected to be the first U.S. player selected, as well as Swedish forward Marcus Nilsson and intriguing defenseman Dan Focht, 6-5 and 226.

Their choice will be determined more by who is left after the first eight picks than by who their favorite is. That’s doubly true for the Kings, whose first pick will be in the second round--30th overall. That deep into the draft, McMaster said the team will select the “best player available,” although he added that he is hoping to make a deal for a veteran power forward during the draft or soon after.

NHL Notes

Al Iafrate, a four-time all-star defenseman who hasn’t played the last two seasons because of knee injuries, was traded from Boston to San Jose for enforcer Jeff Odgers and a 1996 fifth-round draft pick. . . . The St. Louis Blues are holding lengthy talks with Wayne Gretzky’s agent, Michael Barnett, this weekend in an attempt to re-sign Gretzky before he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. The Blues have offered $7 million a season for two years, though some of the money would be deferred. . . . The Hartford Whalers are considering trading Brendan Shanahan, but the Kings and Ducks say they are not involved in any talks for the high-scoring forward.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s NHL Draft

* Where: St. Louis

* Time: 9:30 a.m.

* TV: ESPN2

THE FIRST ROUND

The order of selection for the 1996 NHL entry draft, today in St. Louis:

1. Ottawa

2. San Jose

3. N.Y. Islanders

4. Washington (from Kings)

5. Dallas