Mighty Ducks Deal Oksiuta, Prospect

The Mighty Ducks made only two small moves before the NHL trading deadline Tuesday, making a big bet that the team that has gone on an 11-game unbeaten streak will be good enough to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I like the way we had been playing, but you never stop looking. It still wouldn’t have prevented us from making the right deal,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said.

The Ducks added some offensive depth by acquiring Pittsburgh minor league center Richard Park--who grew up in Rancho Palos Verdes but left home at 13 to hone his hockey skills in Toronto--for right wing Roman Oksiuta, unloading Oksiuta’s $600,000 salary.

Park, 20, is a quick, skilled center who played 56 games for the Penguins last season, scoring four goals and 10 points. He has spent most of this season with Cleveland of the International Hockey League.

“This definitely has been a big dream of mine, being a Southern California kid, to play in Southern California,” Park said. “It was definitely a privilege playing with the likes of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. It’s something I’ll be able to tell my kids. But now I’m looking forward to being on the ice with Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and the rest of the Mighty Ducks.”

The Ducks also acquired Hartford’s Mark Janssens--a third- or fourth-line center--for prospect Bates Battaglia and a fourth-round pick in the 1998 draft.

Janssens, 28, a tough 6-foot-3 defensive center who also has played for the Rangers, has a reputation as a good team player who is good on faceoffs.

Ferreira has been unwilling to part with a first-round pick--”We’re holding those,” he said--but around the NHL on Tuesday, some high-profile players went for much less.

The Florida Panthers picked up veteran center Kirk Muller from Toronto for rookie center Jason Podallan, and Hartford got 23-goal scorer Derek King from the Islanders for a fifth-round pick.

Calgary traded Robert Reichel to the Islanders and the Kings traded Ed Olczyk to Pittsburgh--not that the Flames or Kings would make a deal that would help the division-rival Ducks.

Toronto, unloading veterans and high salaries, also sent veteran defenseman Larry Murphy to Detroit for future considerations.

“My concentration was on trying to get some help up front,” Ferreira said. As for the defense, which has struggled most of the season, Ferreira said, “We acquired J.J. Daigneault, and the emergence of Dan Trebil kind of answered some problems back there. Not that it prevented me from doing anything. I tried to make moves to get even stronger on defense but couldn’t.”

The Ducks’ 11-game unbeaten streak has been an impressive run, but with 12 games left they are still tied for sixth in the Western Conference, two points out of fourth but only one ahead of Chicago and Calgary, who are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Before their streak began Feb. 22, the Ducks were in 10th place, four points out of a playoff spot. So by one measure, the 11-game streak has enhanced their position by only five points.

“Every game is so important. The streak means nothing,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “Look at the standings. The spread is nothing. Thank God it wasn’t a losing streak, or we’d be about 10 points out.”

One of the Ducks’ shortcomings is scoring depth after the first line. After Selanne, Kariya and Steve Rucchin, the most goals by any other player is 12 by Joe Sacco.

Oksiuta was a player Ferreira believed might be able to help, but Coach Ron Wilson disapproved of Oksiuta’s practice habits and defensive commitment and didn’t play him.

“I liked everything here. The one bad thing was I was not playing,” Oksiuta said. “I could have played here and done something great for this team and this organization. I know it’s the coach’s decision and Ron Wilson decided he liked other people. Everybody was saying I was lazy, and I don’t think that’s true.”

Oksiuta had only six goals and 13 points but appeared in only 28 of the Ducks’ 70 games.

Wilson said he spoke to Oksiuta before he left.

“I told Roman, ‘Sorry it didn’t work out. Good luck,’ ” Wilson said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Duck Trade

The Mighty Ducks traded wing Roman Oksiuta to the Penguins for center Richard Park. They also acquired center Mark Janssens from the Whalers for left wing prospect Bates Battaglia and a 1998 fourth-round draft pick:

PARK STATISTICS

*--*

GP G A Pts 1996-97 1 0 0 0 Career 58 4 7 11

*--*

JANSSENS STATISTICS

*--*

GP G A Pts 1996-97 54 2 4 6 Career 501 34 58 92

*--*