Forwards Are at the Forefront

The Kings went for size in the opening round of the NHL entry draft Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. The Mighty Ducks did not. But both teams selected highly skilled forwards who could be impact players within a few years.

The opening day of the draft also produced one blockbuster trade, with the Ottawa Senators sending forward Alexei Yashin and a first-round pick to the New York Islanders for defenseman Zdeno Chara, forward Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick. The Senators used the pick to take forward Jason Spezza of the Windsor Spitfires of the junior-level Ontario Hockey League.

The first three rounds were conducted Saturday at the National Car Rental Center, home of the Florida Panthers. Rounds 4-9 will be held today.

As expected, the Atlanta Thrashers made winger Ilya Kovalchuk the top overall pick. Spezza went next, with the Tampa Bay Lightning taking forward Alexander Svitov third.

The Panthers took forward Stephen Weiss fourth, setting the stage for the Ducks to pick crafty forward Stanislav Chistov fifth. Chistov has been compared by NHL scouts to Duck captain Paul Kariya, and not only because he’s a skilled playmaker. Like Kariya, Chistov is slight of build, listed at 5 feet 9 and 169 pounds.

“The only question about him is that he’s a little bit on the small side,” said Pierre Gauthier, Duck president and general manager. “He’s extremely skilled. He has magic hands, very creative. He has unusual vision. He’s the kind of guy that when you see his team play a game, you can’t wait to see him on the ice again.”

Gauthier, who expects Chistov to play for his Russian club team again next season, hopes the youngster will fill out to at least 5-10, 185.

The Kings picked two powerful forwards, Jens Karlsson of Sweden and David Steckel of Ohio State, with the 18th and 30th overall selections in the opening round. Karlsson, 6-3, 200, and Steckel, 6-5, 200, are not expected to join the Kings next season.

“Both are with good programs and we hope they will continue to develop,” said King General Manager Dave Taylor. “We could sign Karlsson at any time, but we anticipate that Steckel will stay at Ohio State and continue to develop.”

Taylor acknowledged attempts to trade up Saturday, but he failed to complete a deal. He also did not solve his goaltending logjam, failing to trade Stephane Fiset or Jamie Storr. Taylor anticipates re-signing restricted free agent Felix Potvin, whose standout goaltending led the Kings to a scalding stretch run that carried them to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We did have some discussions about moving up from 18th,” Taylor said. “But we weren’t able to move up. We liked both players who were available. There were a lot of discussions involving big-name players, but you didn’t see a lot of movement.”

The Islanders, always willing to deal under General Manager Mike Milbury, and the Senators, eager to dump the enigmatic Yashin, struck a deal before the first pick was selected.

At the end of the day, the question was: Did Milbury give up too much to obtain Yashin, whose holdout in 1999-2000 turned off the Senators and their fans every bit as much as his lack of playoff production over the course of his career?

Chara, the tallest player in league history at 6-9, became an impact player on a bad Islander team last season. Muckalt is a grinding forward who will give the Senators much-needed grit.

There were several lesser trades, including two by the sad-sack Calgary Flames.

Florida got Valeri Bure, younger brother of Panther winger Pavel Bure, and winger Jason Wiemer from the Flames for forward Rob Niedermayer and a draft pick. The Flames also sent goalie Fred Brathwaite, center Daniel Tkaczuk, a prospect and a draft pick to the St. Louis Blues for goalie Roman Turek and a pick.

It’s expected that the Blues will now be in the market for a top-flight goalie--either through trade or free-agent signing. There have been whispers that the Blues, whose dreams of a Stanley Cup championship were torpedoed by Turek’s lackluster playoff performances the last two seasons, are interested in acquiring Dominik Hasek from the Buffalo Sabres.

Despite talk in the days leading up to the draft of separate deals involving the Philadelphia Flyers and Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Peca of the Buffalo Sabres, nothing more significant than the Yashin deal transpired.

Certainly, it’s possible further deals could be completed today. The emphasis was on the selection of the world’s top 18-year-olds Saturday, however.

In addition to taking Karlsson and Steckel in the opening round, the Kings used the 49th and 51st overall picks to select Mike Cammalleri, a center from the University of Michigan, and Jaroslav Bednar, a winger from the Czech Republic who played in Finland the last two seasons. The Kings took Henrik Juntunen, a Finnish left wing, with their third-round pick.

The Ducks selected defenseman Mark Popovic in the second round and in the third took center Joel Stepp, the first Canadian junior-level players they have drafted since 1998.

Gauthier termed it “a coincidence,” but the Ducks’ draft history has been dominated by Europeans. Chistov is the team’s third consecutive first-round pick from Russia, joining Alexei Smirnov (last season) and Vitaly Vishnevski (1998). The team did not have a first-round pick in 1999.

The Kings have seven picks in the final six rounds today, two in the sixth round. The Ducks have eight picks remaining.

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NHL Entry Draft, First Round

At Sunrise, Fla.

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No. Team Player, Pos. School/Team 1. Atlanta Ilya Kovalchuk, c Russia 2. Ottawa (from N.Y. Jason Spezza, f Windsor (OHL) Islanders) 3. Tampa Bay Alexander Svitov, c Russia 4. Florida Stephen Weiss, c Plymouth (OHL) 5. Mighty Ducks Stanislav Chistov, f Russia 6. Minnesota Mikko Koivu, c Finland 7. Montreal Mike Komisarek, d Michigan 8. Columbus Pascal Leclaire, g Halifax (QMJHL) 9. Chicago Tuomo Ruutu, c Finland 10. N.Y. Rangers Dan Blackburn, g Kootenay (WHL) 11. Phoenix (from Fredrik Sjostrom, rw Sweden Calgary) 12. Nashville Dan Hamhuis, d Prince George (WHL) 13. Edmonton (from Ales Hemsky, rw Hull (QMJHL) Boston) 14. Calgary (from Chuck Kobasew, rw Boston College Phoenix) 15. Carolina Igor Knyazev, d Russia 16. Vancouver R.J. Umberger, c Ohio State 17. Toronto Carlo Colaiacovo, d Erie (OHL) 18. Kings Jens Karlsson, rw Sweden 19. Boston (from Shaone Morrisonn, d Kamloops (WHL) Edmonton) 20. San Jose Marcel Goc, c Germany 21. Pittsburgh Colby Armstrong, rw Red Deer (WHL) 22. Buffalo Jiri Novotny, c Czech Republic 23. Ottawa (from Tim Gleason, d Windsor (OHL) Philadelphia) 24. Florida (from N.J. Lukas Krajicek, d Petersborough (OHL) through St. Louis) 25. Montreal (from Alexander Perezhogin, c Russia Washington) 26. Dallas Jason Bacashihua, g Chicago (NAHL) 27. Philadelphia (from Jeff Woywitka, d Red Deer (WHL) Ottawa) 28. New Jersey Adrian Foster, lw Saskatoon (WHL) 29. Chicago (from Adam Munro, g Erie (OHL) Detroit) 30. Kings (from David Steckel, c Ohio State Colorado)

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OTHER KING, DUCK SELECTIONS

Kings: Round 2--(from Toronto) Mike Cammalleri, c, Michigan (CCHA); Jaroslav Bednar, c, IFK (Finland). Round 3--Henrik Juntunen, rw, Karpat (Sweden).

Mighty Ducks: Round 2--Mark Popovic, d, St. Michael’s (OHL). Round 3--3. Joel Stepp, c-lw, Red Deer (WHL).