Karalahti Would Put Alcohol First

The Kings were chilled this week by comments out of Finland from former King defenseman Jere Karalahti that, in essence, he would rather quit the NHL than have to give up drinking.

Karalahti, traded in March from the Kings to the Nashville Predators, was suspended by the NHL for six months without pay last month for a third violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy.

Each violation involved alcohol, sources said, and the first two occurred while Karalahti played for the Kings. Karalahti, who struggled with drug problems before joining the NHL, played 134 games in three seasons with the Kings.

“Obviously, we’re worried about him,” King Coach Andy Murray said Wednesday. “It wasn’t a good thing to read, that’s for sure.”

Karalahti, 27, told Finland’s TV4 that if he continued playing in the NHL, “I would have to be a teetotaler.”

“I don’t really believe I can do that,” he told the Ilta-Sanomat tabloid in a separate interview, “and I don’t even have the will to try.”

Karalahti, whose drug problems included heroin use, said his current troubles concern only alcohol.

“If I know myself at all, I know that zero tolerance with alcohol won’t work,” he said in the television interview.

He told the tabloid: “I’m not ready to go through a treatment program. There are other leagues in which to play in this world.”

One option, he said, would be to have his NHL contract terminated.

“I’m a little disappointed,” said King General Manager Dave Taylor, who helped clear the way for Karalahti to play for the Kings after the defenseman’s 1997 conviction in Helsinki on drug offenses. “I thought he was certainly going in the right direction. I view it as a privilege to play in the NHL.”

Predator General Manager David Poile told the Nashville Tennessean that it’s unlikely Karalahti will play for the Predators this season when the suspension ends.

Karalahti was due to be paid $800,000 this season in the last year of his contract. The suspension is also recognized by the top league in Finland. If cleared to play in his native Finland after the suspension, he probably would make less than $200,000.

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The Mighty Ducks’ future, immediate and long-term, will be on display beginning today, when the team begins its first rookie camp at Disney Ice in Anaheim.

The camp, which runs through Monday, will also begin the competition for the backup goalie spot behind Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Among the 26 players in camp will be Ilja Bryzgalov, J.F. Damphousse and Martin Gerber, the three other goalies in the organization.

Four of the Ducks’ last five No. 1 draft picks will take part: Joffrey Lupul (2002), Stanislav Chistov (2001), Alexei Smirnov (2001) and Mikael Holmqvist (1997). Lupul will not skate because of a hairline fracture in one of his vertebrae.

The workouts are open to the public. Training camp begins Sept. 12.

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Staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this report.