Ducks Will Learn Today if Hebert Gamble Pays Off

Seven years ago, the expansion Mighty Ducks plucked goaltender Guy Hebert from the obscurity of a backup job in St. Louis and were rewarded with strong performances that gave them instant credibility.

The Minnesota Wild or Columbus Blue Jackets may take a chance Hebert can do it again and pick him today in the expansion draft that will stock their rosters for next season.

“I know he’s going to have a better year next year than he did this year,” Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough said of Hebert, who was 28-31-9-8 with a 2.51 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

Hebert, the last original Duck, is among the prominent goalies available in today’s draft at Calgary. His salary may scare Risebrough and Columbus General Manager Doug MacLean--Hebert will earn $3.6 million in 2000-01 and $3.8 million in 2001-02--but one may claim him and trade him to a team desperate for an established goalie.

“I don’t know what they will do,” Duck General Manager Pierre Gauthier said. “If they select him, that’s fine. We hope he’s not taken, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

The draft will be conducted behind closed doors and the results will be announced by the NHL this afternoon. Atlanta and Nashville, the two most recent additions, are exempt. The other 26 teams will each lose two players, although no team can lose more than one goalie or one defenseman. A team that loses a goalie can’t lose a defenseman as well. The entry draft will be conducted Saturday and Sunday.

The list of unprotected players for the expansion draft includes several future Hall of Famers who are past their prime, such as Paul Coffey, Mark Messier and Grant Fuhr, and many veterans with high price tags.

Besides Fuhr, who has said he will retire, available goalies include Boston’s Rob Tallas, Florida’s Mike Vernon, Ottawa’s Tom Barrasso, Philadelphia’s John Vanbiesbrouck and St. Louis’ Jamie McLennan.

Joining Coffey among defensemen are Boston’s Marty McSorley, Buffalo’s Richard Smehlik and Jason Woolley, Dallas’ Dave Manson, New Jersey’s Vladimir Malakhov, the New York Rangers’ Mathieu Schneider and Kevin Hatcher and Toronto’s Bryan Berard, who is recovering from a serious eye injury.

Among the available forwards are Buffalo’s Stu Barnes and Doug Gilmour, Colorado’s Dave Andreychuk, Detroit’s Igor Larionov and Pat Verbeek, Ranger free-agent flop Valery Kamensky and Washington winger Peter Bondra.

Many of those available will become free agents July 1. If they are drafted and don’t sign with their new teams, the teams get compensatory picks in the entry draft.

“I think we’ve been offered a decent pool of players,” Risebrough said. “I think the goaltenders are strong, the defensemen are strong and the forwards are probably not as strong as the [1998] Nashville expansion.”

MacLean, former coach of the Florida Panthers, said he will put a premium on intangibles.

“I think character is still critical,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have five or six guys in your dressing room that won’t allow your team to be embarrassed. I think Nashville has set a new standard in that 70-point range, which is exceptional as far as I’m concerned, with the parity in the league.”

Risebrough, who last week hired former New Jersey Devil Coach Jacques Lemaire as his coach, said he may draft some Minnesotans, who could include King winger Craig Johnson and Vancouver forward Darby Hendrickson. He said he and MacLean have chatted but haven’t made any deals to help each other.

While Risebrough may have a tough time persuading hockey-savvy Minnesotans to watch a losing team that’s bound to have high turnover, MacLean must find a way to sell a losing team in a new city.

“We want to show our fans in Columbus that we’re moving in the right direction with our franchise,” said MacLean, who will hire a coach next week. “However many wins that translates into is one thing, but I think you want people to come to your building feeling you have a chance to win and leave feeling that you’ve given it everything you had and they’ve been entertained.”

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Expansion Draft Comparison

A look at last six NHL teams added, number of players chosen and kept in expansion draft, plus winning percentages:

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INAUGURAL SEASON SECOND SEASON Team Chosen/Kept W% Chosen/Kept W% Diff. Atlanta 26/13 (50%) .238 n/a n/a n/a Nashville 26/11 (42%) .384 26/4 (15%) .427 +.043 Anaheim 24/16 (67%) .423 24/7 (29%) .385 -.038 Florida 24/13 (54%) .494 24/12 (50%) .479 -.015 Ottawa 21/13 (62%) .143 21/1 (5%) .220 +.077 Tampa Bay 21/6 (29%) .315 21/3 (14%) .423 +.108

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