There’s No Ducking Issue of Trading Kariya or Selanne

Break up Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya?

Whenever I mention that, people react as if I’d suggested breaking up Ruth and Gehrig, Magic and Kareem, Michael and Scottie or Gretzky and Messier.

The difference is that Ruth and Gehrig, Magic and Kareem, etc., won championships. Selanne and Kariya haven’t, and, based on their 10th-place standing in the Western Conference at the all-star break, no one is preparing to inscribe their names on the Stanley Cup this season either.

I must not be the only one who has considered this because Selanne’s name has emerged in recent weeks in trade rumors.

Should the Mighty Ducks consider it?

Some argue that the fans would revolt. But at least that would be a sign that they care. Attendance is already dwindling because the team isn’t winning enough to justify high ticket prices. Fans might actually return if the Ducks traded a superstar for two or three potential stars who improved the team.

So far, though, I have found no one who believes it would be a good idea to trade either Selanne or Kariya except for teams that believe they might be able to trade for either Selanne or Kariya.

“That’s not something I would do,” Wayne Gretzky says. “There aren’t that many great players around, and when you have two of them, you build around them, not break them up.”

Besides, as the Ducks go into tonight’s game against the Kings at Staples Center, they’re on a four-game unbeaten streak and both Kariya and Selanne are scoring the way they used to, now that Coach Craig Hartsburg has instructed them to play the way they used to.

He wanted them to concentrate more on defense, or at least they thought he wanted them to. In either case, it was like watching Renoir and Monet paint porches. Now, they all seem to be of the same mind and, this week at least, none is a lame Duck.

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There’s no denying that the video of Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux passing the torch to Kariya, Jaromir Jagr, Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure before the NHL All-Star game was touching. . . .

But it would have meant more for the future of the game if Kariya, Jagr, Lindros and Bure had more than two Stanley Cup championships among them. Gretzky, Howe and Lemieux had 10. . . .

The NHL All-Star game? Why? . . .

Remember when we thought the biggest problem facing Steve Lavin was whether he would be able to persuade big-time recruits such as JaRon Rush and Dan Gadzuric to stay in school for more than a season or two before turning pro? . . .

Remember when UCLA’s coaches wanted us to believe that the Bruins would be better without Baron Davis? . . .

Remember the last time UCLA’s basketball team was playing the spoiler role against USC? I don’t. . . .

Jim Todd’s best coaching move Sunday night against Chicago would have been to file a missing-persons report on Lamar Odom in the fourth quarter. . . .

Either Odom didn’t want the ball, which I find difficult to believe, or his teammates didn’t want to give it to him, which I find almost as difficult to believe. . . .

Let’s hope the Lakers weren’t fooled when Ike Austin finally had a good game last week. The Clippers realized he couldn’t still play when they chose not to re-sign him. . . .

I’m not suggesting that the Clippers would have paid to keep him even if they had realized he could still play. . . .

Larry Brown gets mad at Allen Iverson for a lot of things, but not about the 40 shots he took when he scored 50 points Sunday night. . . .

As a player, Brown and teammates used to complain when Rick Barry would take 40 shots. Barry would tell them, “Half you guys can’t get 40 shots.” . . .

I’m not particularly encouraged by the New York Times’ report that only 2.7%--12 of 430--NBA players tested positive for marijuana during training camps. After all, the players were warned when the testing would occur. . . .

My question is, how could 12 be dumb enough to get caught?

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Boxing promoters Bob Arum, Don King and the Duvas have nothing on Dan Goossen of the Sherman Oaks Goossens. . . .

A few weeks ago, it looked as if Felix Trinidad Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya would meet in a rematch. . . .

Now, after some nifty negotiating and legal maneuvering, Goossen has one of his fighters, Derrell Coley, fighting De La Hoya on Feb. 26 and another, David Reid, fighting Trinidad on March 3. . . .

At last report, you could get 40-1 odds on Wayne Lukas’ filly, Surfside, in the future books for the Kentucky Derby. . . .

Negotiations to match USC and Michigan in the Kickoff Classic next summer in the Meadowlands have stalled. The suspicion is that the Wolverines prefer an easier opponent. . . .

Maybe they’d rather play the other USC, the one coached by Lou Holtz. . . .

E-2: Besides 2000, when they were in St. Louis, and 1951, when they were in Los Angeles, the Rams also won the NFL championship in 1945, when they were in Cleveland. . . .

The Pro Bowl? Why?

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While wondering if Derek Jeter will be able to get by on $10 million next season while waiting for the big money, I was thinking: John McEnroe should coach the Clippers, Byron Nelson’s record is still safer than Joe DiMaggio’s, the LPGA field this week at Wood Ranch includes everyone you’d want to see--except Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster and Karrie Webb.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.