Ducks’ Focus Is on Defense

After falling one victory short of winning the Stanley Cup, the Mighty Ducks will pick 19th today in the NHL entry draft at Nashville, a rare low selection for a club that picked seventh last year and fifth two years ago.

Their timing couldn’t be better.

“This is a deep draft,” General Manager Bryan Murray said, echoing the sentiments of colleagues around the league. “I don’t think there is a superstar at the top, but there are a lot of good players.”

The Ducks also had the 19th pick in 1999 but had traded it to the Phoenix Coyotes in a deal that brought them defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky. Their first pick that year was the 44th overall.

This year, they have two picks among the first 36 and five among the first 90, thanks to trades with the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins.

Defense is a priority.

“We would like to add to the defense at some point in the draft,” Murray said. “With the first pick, as always, we will have to wait and see. Obviously, all along, I have been trying to make this team a little bigger.”

Murray has other pressing decisions beyond the draft, among them signing goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere and right wing Petr Sykora.

Giguere, winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, may have other suitors. There is speculation that the Colorado Avalanche has targeted him as a replacement for the retired Patrick Roy. The Ducks, though, would have the right to match any offer for the restricted free agent.

Murray, whose moves last summer improved the Ducks dramatically, may look to wheel and deal again this year, though on a lesser scale. Center Adam Oates and right wing Steve Thomas, key players in the Ducks’ run to the Western Conference championship, are unrestricted free agents.

They can be re-signed by the Ducks before the July 1 start of the free-agency period. Oates came up short on incentives to earn a $3.5-million option for next season. Murray, after the Ducks’ playoff run, may have other options.

The Ducks also will entertain trade offers this weekend.

“We have until the end of June to make a decision [on Oates and Thomas],” Murray said. “Part of what happens will be affected by what we do here [at the draft].”

That could fuel Teemu Selanne rumors. The former Duck will be an unrestricted free agent. He turned the Ducks down last summer to remain with the Sharks, with whom he believed he had a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.