It Takes a Scorecard to Follow Players in System

Baseball makes it so simple. Class-A. Double-A. Triple-A. The major leagues.

Hockey? It’s a little more complicated.

The Mighty Ducks send prospects to Baltimore and Long Beach and stops in between. Players on their way to Anaheim have toiled for TPS Turku in Finland and Krylja Sovetov in Moscow--the Soviet Wings. They skate for Boston College and the Saskatoon Blades.

It used to be you could keep count of the Ducks’ prospects and not need all your fingers, much less toes. But after three seasons and four drafts, the organization is finally beginning to have a store of players.

Here’s a look at where they play and who they are.

BALTIMORE BANDITS

This is Anaheim’s primary minor league affiliate, the place the Ducks send the bulk of their young players to be molded by a coach of the organization’s choosing.

Walt Kyle, now a Duck assistant coach, handled the Bandits last season. The new coach is Moe Mantha, who played 12 seasons in the NHL and once was traded by General Manager Jack Ferreira from Minnesota to Philadelphia simply because Ferreira was told to cut payroll. (Until recently, Mantha never knew why.)

The American Hockey League is a notch below the International Hockey League in quality of play. But it’s a young players’ league and that’s why the Ducks send prospects who need game experience and instruction.

Centers Alex Hicks and J.F. Jomphe and defensemen Jason Marshall and Darren Van Impe all reached Anaheim by proving themselves in Baltimore.

LONG BEACH ICE DOGS

The Ice Dogs have moved from the Sports Arena to Long Beach Arena, adding a working agreement with the Ducks in the process. The Ducks will send a minimum of four players to the Ice Dogs, who play in the International Hockey League, which has the highest quality of play in the minors.

The players will be good ones and they’ll be close by, making them available for short-notice recall in case of injuries. But if time allows, “just because a player’s in Long Beach doesn’t mean they’ll be the first call-ups,” said David McNab, the Ducks’ assistant general manager.

That’s because the IHL is a veterans’ league, meaning it’s home to a lot of fringe players trying to break through or hang on--not young prospects with long NHL careers ahead of them.

Goaltender Mike O’Neill, 28, is an example. He has played 20 NHL games and an illness or minor injury to Guy Hebert or Mikhail Shtalenkov could get him a quick trip to Orange County to be the backup for a game or two. But the goalie prospect the Ducks hope will play in the NHL in a few seasons, Tom Askey, is in Baltimore.

FT. WAYNE KOMETS

Another IHL team, the Komets have an agreement with the Ducks for two or three players.

The first player sent to Ft. Wayne was goaltender Mike Torchia, a depth player in the organization. Instead of sending him to Baltimore where he might take up time management wants for Askey, he’ll start the season in Ft. Wayne.

EUROPE

European-born players often join professional teams while still in their teens, and many remain in their country a year or more after being drafted. (Contract and military obligations are sometimes an issue.)

Duck defenseman Nikolai Tsulygin played two more seasons for Salavat Yulayev in the Russian Elite League after being drafted--a disappointment to the Ducks, who wanted him to come to North America and learn the language and style of play. After a year in Baltimore, Tsulygin has lost his meekness and bridged his difficulty communicating and is on the brink of playing in the NHL.

Another of the Ducks’ top prospects, center Johan Davidsson, has decided to stay a second year with his team, Sweden’s Jonkoping HV-71. Davidsson’s English is good; the Ducks’ disappointment in this case is because they could probably use his skill and finesse.

Worth noting: The statistics of prospects who play in Europe are difficult to interpret because older players get much of the ice time, leaving a promising youngster such as Davidsson with numbers scouts don’t write home about: seven goals and 11 assists.

COLLEGE HOCKEY

Paul Kariya honed his game playing for the University of Maine for 1 1/2 seasons, returning after the Olympics for half a season after he was drafted in 1993, the year he won the Hobey Baker Award--presented to the best hockey player at a U.S. college--as a freshman.

Many players go to college after being drafted at 18 and complete their eligibility before turning professional. The best Duck prospect in college now is probably Minnesota defenseman Mike Crowley, drafted by Philadelphia in 1993 and acquired by the Ducks in the trade for Anatoli Semenov last season. Making it to the NHL after a Canadian university career is much rarer, since the most talented Canadian players go the junior route. The Ducks’ Steve Rucchin is one of the few who have done it.

JUNIOR HOCKEY

The Canadian Hockey League, made up of the Ontario Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, is the chief breeding ground for future NHL players. Youngsters often leave their hometowns at 15 or 16 to go board or “billet” with a family in another town where they go to high school and play for the local team.

After being drafted at 18, all but the most elite go back to their junior team for another year of seasoning.

Prospects can produce outrageous point totals as juniors, particularly in the offense-driven QMJHL. Sometimes the numbers foretell success in the NHL and sometimes they don’t. (Mario Lemieux scored 133 goals and 282 points in his final season with Laval. By contrast, Alexandre Daigle scored 137 points for Victoriaville but has yet to do much for the Ottawa Senators.)

The Ducks’ wait-and-see prospects who posted big numbers as juniors are Mike Leclerc, who had 58 goals and 111 points for the Brandon Wheat Kings last season, and Frank Banham, who scored 83 goals for the Saskatoon Blades.