Ducks Take Action to Draft Right Wing

With three picks Saturday in the first round of the NHL entry draft, not to mention a greater need for immediate help, the Kings seemed the most likely of the league’s two Southland franchises to make a trade involving draft choices.

But while the Kings took the safe route on the first day of the two-day selection process at Nashville, turning down all offers and holding onto their prized picks, the Mighty Ducks made a deal.

And so the Ducks, after sending two second-round picks to the Dallas Stars for the 28th overall choice in what was widely described as a deep draft, wound up with two first-round selections, stealing a bit of the Kings’ thunder.

The Kings, picking 13th, 26th and 27th, took right wing Dustin Brown of Ithaca, N.Y., 6-foot-5 center Brian Boyle of Dorchester, Mass., and left wing Jeff Tambellini of Calgary in the opening round. Tambellini’s father, Steve, played 10 seasons in the NHL and is assistant general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.

The Ducks, whose first pick was the 19th overall, took center Ryan Getzlaf of Regina, Canada, and right wing Corey Perry of Peterborough, Canada, in the first round.

It has become a laughable cliche for club executives in any sport to say they’re surprised to see players they like still available when it’s their turn to pick. But Duck General Manager Bryan Murray backed up his words with action, making a hasty deal when he saw Perry still on the board.

“We moved up to make sure we got him,” said Murray, who sent the 36th and 54th picks to the Stars. “We just didn’t want to miss the kid.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins, who originally owned the third choice overall, felt the same about goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury of Sorel, Canada, whom they made the No. 1 pick in the draft after completing a trade with the Florida Panthers.

The Penguins, who also got a third-round choice, sent the No. 3 selection, a second-round pick and right wing Mikael Samuelsson to the Panthers.

Samuelsson was one of the few players changing teams on draft day. Unlike in the last few years, most of the trades involved draft picks on a day when center Eric Staal of Thunder Bay, Canada, was the first skater taken. Staal, generally considered the top prospect in the draft, went to the Carolina Hurricanes at No. 2.

Defenseman Ryan Suter of Madison, Wis., taken by the Nashville Predators with the seventh pick, was the first of a record eight U.S.-born players selected in the first round, topping the previous high of seven taken in 1986.

Among the Americans selected was Brown, whom the Kings had ranked as the eighth-best prospect in the draft, according to General Manager Dave Taylor. Taylor also said that Brown, 18, might be good enough to play for the Kings next season, possibly among the top six forwards.

In terms of aggressiveness and scoring ability, Taylor said, the 6-0, 195-pound Brown is “similar to Adam Deadmarsh,” the Kings’ gritty top-line right wing.

Of course, on draft day everybody is a potential All-Star.

To Murray and the Ducks, the 6-2, 195-pound Getzlaf was the eighth-best prospect in the draft. “We thought he would go in the top 10,” Murray said. “He slipped for whatever reason -- there’s always a reason, I guess -- but [he’s got] lots of skill, lots of size.”

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KINGS’ SELECTIONS

*--* 90 Juha Alen D FIRST ROUND No Player Pos 13 Dustin Brown W 26 Brian Boyle (from Colorado) C 27 Jeff Tambellini (from Detroit) LW SECOND ROUND 44 Konstantin Pushkaryov W THIRD ROUND 82 Ryan Munce G DUCKS’ SELECTIONS FIRST ROUND No Player Pos 19 Ryan Getzlaf C 28 Corey Perry (from Dallas) RW THIRD ROUND 86 Shane Hynes (from Boston) RW

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*--* Prized Picks A look at the first 10 players chosen in Saturday’s NHL draft. With position and last season’s team: 1. PITTSBURGH (From Florida) Marc-Andre Fleury, G, Cape Breton 2. CAROLINA Eric Staal, C, Peterborough 3. FLORIDA (From Pittsburgh) Nathan Horton, C, Oshawa 4. COLUMBUS Nikolai Zherdev, RW, Russia 5. BUFFALO Thomas Vanek, LW, Univ. of Minnesota 6. SAN JOSE Milan Michalek, RW, Czech Republic 7. NASHVILLE Ryan Suter, D, U.S. under-18 8. ATLANTA Braydon Coburn, D, Portland 9. CALGARY Dion Phaneuf, D, Red Deer 10. MONTREAL Andrei Kostitsyn, C-W, Belarus

Complete first three rounds...D16

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