Off Golden Pond

Mighty Duck captain Paul Kariya, who endured the many bad times and reveled in a few good times in Anaheim, will chase the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche this season.

Kariya and Teemu Selanne will be reunited after both signed one-year deals with the Avalanche on Thursday; Kariya for about $1.2 million, Selanne for $5.8 million.

Kariya became an unrestricted free agent Monday after Duck General Manager Bryan Murray did not give him a qualifying offer matching the $10 million Kariya made last season, gambling that he could be re-signed for less. Instead, the Ducks are left with nothing in return for their best player, except for a smaller payroll.

Selanne and Kariya hatched the idea of going as a package deal during a late-night telephone conversation Monday that carried over into early Tuesday.

“Yes, this was difficult,” Kariya said. “I really enjoyed my time in Anaheim.... This was a hockey decision, not a money decision. Teemu and I both asked ourselves, ‘Where is it we want to play?’ It was like ‘Boom, Colorado,’ instantaneously. So it was nothing against Anaheim.”

Don Baizley, their agent, then initiated conversations with a pleasantly surprised Pierre Lacroix, the Avalanche general manager. The deal that was worked out included Kariya taking significantly less money so he would become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

A free-agent player who has spent 10 years in the NHL and made less than the league average is automatically unrestricted. The league average was $1.79 million last season.

“Teemu and I are absolutely thrilled,” Kariya said. “We’re so excited about this chance to play in Colorado. We think we’ve got a terrific opportunity to win the Stanley Cup, and that’s why we came here.”

Duck fans who hungered for a Kariya-Selanne reunion got their wish -- they’ll just have to watch it unfold in Denver. The Avalanche, eliminated by the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs last season, has positioned itself for another Cup run, although it will do so without All-Star goalie Patrick Roy, who retired.

“Me and Paul were thinking that we wanted to go to the best place to play hockey and I think we are right there right now,” Selanne said.

The Avalanche’s style fits their skills better than the Ducks’ defense-and-check philosophy. And the thought of playing with Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, “gave me goose bumps,” Selanne said.

That did not set well with Murray, who bristled at the suggestion that joining Colorado was a better hockey decision. He said he wanted to bring Kariya and Selanne together in Anaheim and made a pitch for them.

“My starting offer was more than the finished offer in Colorado,” Murray said. “We were sort of left thinking, ‘Boy, we’re the Anaheim of old, not the team that showed up in the [Stanley Cup] final.’

” ... They heard us loud and clear, we wanted them in Anaheim. I don’t understand it. We’re the team that went to the Stanley Cup final, we’re the team that looked like it had kids coming. They decided to phone Colorado and go there. From my point of view, that’s not the way business is.”

Murray said he allowed Kariya to become an unrestricted free agent because he could not justify one player making $10 million of the team’s $45-million payroll, as was the case last season. The Ducks have committed $19 million to 12 players on their roster for this season.

Kariya, the Ducks’ first draft pick when he was taken fourth overall in 1993, has 300 goals in his career. He scored only 25 goals last season, his lowest total for a full season, but his 56 assists ranked eighth in the NHL. He nearly realized his dream of winning the Stanley Cup when the Ducks reached the finals before losing to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

Kariya had been the Ducks’ main box-office attraction. His popularity was exceeded only by Selanne, who spent five-plus seasons with the Ducks before being traded to San Jose late in the 2000-01 season. Selanne rejected his $6.5-million option to remain with Sharks this season.

“In a certain sense, the franchise has been built around Paul,” center Andy McDonald said. “He’s always been in the spotlight. He’s the guy a lot of the fans come to watch.”

Those fans, many of whom returned during the surprising run through the playoffs, will have that new-found goodwill tested by season-ticket prices being raised an average of 11% and the departure of the popular Kariya, who spent nine years with the team.

The Ducks, meanwhile, were dealing with the loss of their captain.

“You lose a guy like that, you can’t replace him,” Duck defenseman Kurt Sauer said. “You just have to move on. You don’t go looking for another Paul Kariya because there is not another one out there.”

But Murray will try, noting that losing Kariya “leaves money to go shopping now and that’s what I would like to do.”

That will have Murray accelerating his pursuit of unrestricted free agent Sergei Fedorov, who said he won’t return to the Detroit Red Wings. The Ducks are among the teams that have talked with his agent and will make a strong push to sign him, a source said.

Staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.

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PAUL KARIYA BY THE NUMBERS

4

Overall pick in the 1993 NHL entry draft, following Alexandre Daigle, Chris Pronger and Chris Gratton

300

All-time regular-season goals, a Ducks’ record, 75 more than runner-up Teemu Selanne

3

First-team all-NHL selections at left wing, in 1996, ’97 and ‘99, with a second-team selection in 2000

2

Lady Byng Trophies won, given for gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play

1

Goal scored in this year’s Stanley Cup finals, for a total of six during the playoffs

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Together Again

Statistics for Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne in six seasons they played together for Mighty Ducks:

*--* KARIYA SELANNE Season GP G A PTS GP G A PTS 1995-96 82 50 58 108 28 16 20 36 1996-97* 69 44 55 99 78 51 58 109 1997-98 22 17 14 31 73 52 34 86 1998-99* 82 39 62 101 75 47 60 107 1999-00 74 42 44 86 79 33 52 85 2000-01 66 33 34 67 61 26 33 59

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* Mighty Ducks made playoffs.

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The Big Three

Comparing Paul Kariya’s career to those of Southern California’s two other hockey superstars, Wayne Gretzky and Marcel Dionne:

*--* Player Kariya Gretzky Dionne Team Mighty Kings Kings Ducks Seasons 9 ‘94-03 8 ‘88-96 12 ‘75-87 Games/Se 606 67.3 539 67.4 921 76.8 ason Goals 300 33.3 246 30.8 550 45.8 Assists 369 41 672 84 757 63.1 Points 669 74.3 918 114.8 1,307 108.9 # 3 6 9 Playoffs Best 2003 Stanley 1993 Stanley 1982 Smythe showing cup cup finals Division finals finals

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Leading Man

Four of the career categories in which Paul Kariya leads the Mighty Ducks:

GAMES

*--* Kariya 606 Steve Rucchin 534 Teemu Selanne 384 Ruslan Salei 434 Matt Cullen 427

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*--* GOALS Kariya 300 Teemu Selanne 225 Steve Rucchin 133 Matt Cullen 65 Joe Sacco 62

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*--* ASSISTS Kariya 369 Teemu Selanne 257 Steve Rucchin 256 Matt Cullen 135 Oleg Tverdovsky 125

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*--* POINTS Kariya 669 Teemu Selanne 482 Steve Rucchin 389 Matt Cullen 200 Oleg Tverdovsky 170

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