READY TO RUMBLE

Paul Kariya laughed. Or perhaps it was more of a scoff. Either way, it was clear what the Mighty Duck captain thought of a question posed to him last week.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” he said. “Nobody even talks about it anymore. Nobody’s even asked me about it for, oh, I don’t know, three or four months now.”

Do you remember?

The vicious crack on his jaw. The concussion. The headaches. The dizziness. The short-term memory loss. So many questions. So few answers.

Oh, yeah, it.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only last season. Kariya missed 28 games because of post-concussion syndrome stemming from Gary Suter’s Feb. 1, 1998 cross check to his jaw.

Kariya missed the Nagano Olympics. Canada missed out on a gold medal. Kariya missed the final three months of the NHL season. The Ducks missed out on the playoffs.

Weeks passed. Months.

“Thinking back, I realized how much I missed the game, but at the same time I was in la-la land,” Kariya said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I just wanted to get better. I just wanted to come back and be healthy and play the game again.”

Kariya underwent acupuncture treatments, and the headaches and fuzziness at last subsided. He went to work in the gym as never before, determined to strengthen his neck and shoulder muscles in the hope that it would prevent another concussion.

He has had four, including two while with the Ducks. He found a better helmet and began wearing a mouthpiece. He said he was determined to carry his stick a bit higher on the ice.

“No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he vowed.

He stuck to his promise too. The most noteworthy example happened Saturday, when he ventured into a scrum behind the Duck net to tangle with San Jose’s Alexander Korolyuk. Punches were thrown, but the gloves were never dropped and neither player received a fighting major.

“That was the closest thing,” Kariya said when asked if he had ever been in a fight. Then he jokingly scolded reporters by saying, ‘Hey, you guys are making too much out of this thing.’ ”

Perhaps that was true. But maybe his rumble with Korolyuk finally put an end to all the questions about his health.

After all, Kariya played in all 82 regular-season games. He was the NHL’s third-leading scorer with 101 points (39 goals and 62 assists). His Ducks are back in the playoffs, starting tonight against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

In retrospect, two early-season events should have put any doubts about Kariya’s health to rest.

First, Washington’s Craig Berube popped him against the boards with a tough but legal hit in the Oct. 10 opener. Kariya, unfazed, got to his feet immediately.

Next, Kariya paddled a rebound out of midair into the Boston Bruin net in the home opener Oct. 21 at the Arrowhead Pond. Kariya’s smirk after scoring said it all: “I’m baaaaaack.”

Was he ever.

Kariya hasn’t given his injury much thought. No doubts, no regrets, no concerns. Others haven’t forgotten, however.

“I’m glad he’s back and better than ever,” Suter said. “The game needs players like him, especially with [Wayne] Gretzky retiring. Kariya is a huge part of Anaheim’s team and the NHL. He’s a huge part of hockey.

“I never wanted to be involved in that [injuring Kariya]. I kept hoping he would come back last year. I was hoping he’d just be out a few games and he would be OK for the Olympics.

“No question it was a bad hit. I feel bad that it put him out for the rest of the year.”

Suter’s days since last season haven’t been as cheerful as Kariya’s. Suter went from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Sharks during the off-season, but he played only one period of one game for his new team. Tendon damage in his right arm caused by a staph infection required three surgeries since last summer. He hopes to be fit again by training camp in September.

Suter smiled sheepishly when it was suggested he could compare notes with Kariya on how to keep busy while sidelined by a potentially career-ending injury. The two have not met since the incident but have communicated through Don Baizley, the agent for both players.

Asked if he has followed Kariya’s exploits this season, Suter said, “It’s been hard not to.”

It seems strange, but there is a feeling among some Ducks that Kariya could have been even better this season. Kariya indicated that missing all but 22 games last season because of the concussion and an early-season contract dispute hindered his progress.

“I was up and down,” Kariya said. “I struggled at points. I was thinking too much. My work ethic was there. I could see improvements in practice. But I lost my instinct to just go out and play. . . . There was nothing from last season to fall back on.”

Right wing Teemu Selanne winced when asked for his opinion of Kariya’s season.

“Paul has played well, but I don’t think he’s played to the level he can,” Selanne said. “I know he can do better. That’s a good feeling. He has so much to prove. He told me, ‘I’m going to be way better next year.’ ”

That’s a scary thought for opponents, and it brings up another notion. Now that Gretzky has retired, is this Kariya’s time to step into the void as the Next One?

The question is valid, but comparisons between the players are probably unfair. After all, Gretzky spent 20 seasons redefining the game. Kariya, 24, has played only five seasons.

“When Wayne came into the league, nobody said he was the heir apparent,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “No one’s going to give [Kariya] a torch and say, ‘Now go carry it.’ You just play and be who you are and it will all work out.”

After his final game Sunday, Gretzky mentioned Kariya, Selanne, Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr and Philadelphia’s Eric Lindros as players who will some day inherit the spotlight he once commanded.

“It’s a great compliment coming from Wayne,” Kariya said. “He’s meant so much to me in the way I play the game. My earliest memories of hockey are of watching him playing the game.”

Somewhere in Canada, or maybe even La Canada, there is probably a youngster studying Kariya’s every move much as Kariya watched Gretzky. It would not surprise Hartsburg if Kariya one day soon was lauded as the game’s finest player.

“He works at every little thing,” Hartsburg said. “He’s smart. He’s continued to improve because he’s feeling more and more confident. I bet if you asked him, he would say he’s a better all-around player now.

“Certainly, his best hockey is still ahead of him.”

DUCKS vs. DETROIT

TONIGHT at Detroit, 4:30 PDT, FSW2

BEST OF SEVEN

FRIDAY at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.

SUNDAY at Ducks, noon

TUESDAY at Ducks, 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 29 at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.*

MAY 2 at Ducks, noon*

MAY 4 at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.*

* if necessary

PREVIEW PULLOUT

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CHOMPING: Phoenix opens with St. Louis but is already looking ahead to a grudge match with Dallas. Page 5