Stanley Cup Veteran Hrkac Acquired in Deal for Drury

Pierre Gauthier, Duck president and general manager, was leaving his dentist’s office when Mike Milbury, general manager of the New York Islanders, reached him on his cellular phone Friday.

They had been talking trade since Thursday, but Milbury finally decided to pull the trigger, sending veteran forward Tony Hrkac and minor league defenseman Dean Malkoc to Anaheim for forward Ted Drury.

“I must have talked to Mike Milbury six times in 24 hours,” Gauthier said. “Finally, he said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ ”

This could turn out to be as good a deal for the Ducks as Gauthier’s move early last season to acquire winger Marty McInnis from Calgary via Chicago for a fourth-round pick in the 2000 draft. McInnis had 18 goals for the Ducks last season. He had three goals and five points going into Friday’s game against Washington.

Hrkac, 33, helped the Dallas Stars win the Stanley Cup championship last season, scoring 13 goals and 27 points in 69 regular-season games. He also had two assists in five playoff games.

He signed with the Islanders as an unrestricted free agent in the off-season and had two assists in seven games. He had been playing primarily on the third and fourth lines for New York.

Malkoc, 29, has one assist and 39 penalty minutes in nine games for Chicago of the International Hockey League. He will remain for Chicago.

Gauthier hopes the addition of Hrkac will improve the Ducks’ depth at center. Hrkac last season played in all sorts of roles for the Stars, including centering the top lines when Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk were injured during the season.

“If you watched him last season with Dallas, he can play with highly skilled guys and also with checkers,” Gauthier said.

Drury played like a warrior during the Ducks’ first playoff appearance in 1997, but his role was limited to centering the fourth line the last two seasons. He had one goal and two points in 11 games for the Ducks this season.

“We think we’ve improved our chemistry on the team,” Gauthier said. “We’ve added a different type of player. [Hrkac] was on a Stanley Cup team and that adds something. We’ll use him in many different situations, including the power play.”

Hrkac, speaking from New York on a conference call with reporters, sounded trilled to be leaving the Islanders (2-5-1 and last in the Eastern Conference) to play for a playoff contender.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “I know the Islanders had a tough time last year and are rebuilding again. Playing against the Ducks last year, they gave us a lot of trouble in Dallas.

“The Islanders are a young team. I was the oldest guy there. They brought me in for the experience and to teach the young guys and bring leadership.”

The same will be asked in Anaheim of Hrkac, who is ready to do whatever is needed.

“At the beginning of my career I didn’t play a total game,” Hrkac said. “I played for coaches like Mike Keenan and Brian Sutter and unless you played the total game you were not going to play and they sent me to the minors. I stuck it out and worked on my game.”