Kariya Always Gave the Ducks a Chance

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.

The Mighty Ducks, battling to keep their championship hopes alive, had absorbed a potentially deflating blow early in the second period. The New Jersey Devils had pressured the Ducks’ defense into a turnover and cut their lead to 3-1, and goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was under siege.

Paul Kariya controlled the puck at the Devils’ blue line and threaded a pass up ice. A split-second later -- too late for the Ducks’ liking -- he was knocked flat on his back by defenseman Scott Stevens. Fans at the Arrowhead Pond grew eerily silent as Kariya lay motionless, his head lolling to the right and his arms limp after a crunching shoulder-to-jaw hit -- a legal but sobering reminder hockey is not for the faint of heart.

Wobbly and woozy, Kariya was helped off the ice by Sandis Ozolinsh and Adam Oates. Given his history of four concussions, the implications were frightening. Was he done for the game? For his career?

Neither.

After a few minutes’ rest he returned to the bench and took a twirl on the ice to get his feet under him. He got a standing ovation. That was nothing compared to the roof-rattling reception he earned with 2:45 left in the period, when he took a pass from Petr Sykora and rifled a shot past Martin Brodeur’s glove for a 4-1 Duck lead.

It was a moment of pure wonder, a display of character and resilience that will be long remembered. The Ducks won that game, 5-2, but lost Game 7, leaving Kariya drained and downcast. But it was easy to think there would be many other chances for him to live his dream of hoisting the Cup while wearing a Duck uniform.

Fast-forward to Thursday, when Kariya smiled and pulled a burgundy Colorado Avalanche jersey over his white shirt after signing a one-year deal that reunited him with former Duck teammate Teemu Selanne.

Duck General Manager Bryan Murray blundered by declining to give Kariya a $10-million qualifying offer, no matter his insistence he couldn’t fit Kariya’s salary into a budget limited to the mid-$40-million range and improve the team’s talent. To make money you must invest money, and it will cost the Ducks more to replace Kariya than if they’d kept him and remodeled around him. They needed to be shored up here and there, not demolished and rebuilt from nearly the ground up.

They won’t have to start completely anew if Giguere sustains his excellence. But if they didn’t appreciate Kariya or see that his value went beyond dollars and stodgy columns of numbers, they’ll learn it now, at arm’s length.

As a small, creative player in a game dominated by defense-minded drones who clog the neutral zone and prevent rushes from developing, Kariya is part of what has, sadly, become an endangered species. He has complained about obstruction, but so have Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull, Mike Modano and others whose skills are blunted by defense-first schemes. Everyone is scoring less, and no one is enjoying it more. Credit Kariya for standing up for what he believes is good for the game, at the risk of being labeled a whiner.

Credit him, too, with scoring the three most important goals in Duck history.

In 1997 he scored the overtime goal that staved off elimination in Game 6 of the Ducks’ playoff debut against Phoenix. He was set up by Selanne, whom he had lobbied the Ducks to acquire four months earlier.

This spring, he scored the triple-overtime winner in the opener of the Ducks’ first-round sweep of Detroit, supporting Giguere’s 63-save effort and giving his teammates confidence they could compete with the defending Cup champions. And although he was hardly prolific this spring, his Game 6 goal against the Devils gave chills to all who saw it. “He showed what kind of leader he is,” teammate Ruslan Salei said.

He was not vocal as the Ducks’ captain, but he led by quiet example and subtle word and grew into the role.

“He works hard, comes to the rink ready, and he’s also a nice guy,” teammate Kurt Sauer said. “I was a rookie and he was always nice to me and always gave me respect, even in rookie camp. When a player of that level jokes around with you and treats you like that, that means a lot to a guy coming in. It shows he’s still grounded.”

He had other great games, such as Dec. 12, 1997, when he returned from a contract stalemate to record two goals and two assists and rally the Ducks to a 6-4 victory over Washington.

The story was supposed to be Capital Coach Ron Wilson’s return to Anaheim, where he had been popular and successful before being fired in a power struggle, but Kariya made it his night.

“It’s scary,” Selanne said of Kariya’s spree. “Before, I skate with 200 pounds on my back. Now, it is just the wind.”

There was also April 14, 1996, when he scored his 50th goal and became the 14th-youngest NHL player to reach that mark and 10th-youngest to reach 100 points, nearly six months past his 21st birthday. And many more like it, though they might not have been as plentiful as before.

Did he lose a step after he broke his foot in December 2000 for the third time in less than two years? Maybe. But he could still turn the most mobile defensemen into pillars with a quick feint, a curl, a laser-like shot or pinpoint pass.

Did he lose his nerve after the Feb. 1, 1998 concussion that knocked him out of the Nagano Olympics and ended his season? No. He didn’t play scared. He had 25 goals and 56 assists for 81 points this season, his most assists since 1998-99. His goal totals had declined, but scoring has dropped league-wide. Also, he had a sound Steve Rucchin, an effective Adam Oates -- also recruited by Kariya -- and Sykora to share the burden this season.

Murray acknowledged the Ducks have no one to pick up Kariya’s scoring slack, adding, “I’ve got to go find a couple of players now.” Who will want to come here and believe the Ducks have a greater potential than past? Murray didn’t merely pare their budget. He cut out their creative soul. Try putting a price tag on that.