Crosby Is New Penguin Star

Sidney Crosby might very well save the Pittsburgh Penguins from financial and competitive ruin, inheriting the role so nobly filled by Mario Lemieux. The past and the future will intersect when Lemieux, who became an owner of the team while rescuing it from bankruptcy, celebrates his 40th birthday on Oct. 5 by skating beside Crosby.

“This is amazing,” Crosby said Saturday after being chosen first overall in the annual entry draft and pulling on a Penguin jersey with 87 on the back. “I’m just really relieved.”

Although the draft was scaled down in scope in deference to the brief interlude before the NHL’s relaunch, there was no shortage of compelling stories generated during the seven-round event in Ottawa.

A record eight U.S.-born players were chosen in the first round, surpassing the seven picked in 1986 and 2003, no Europeans were chosen among the top 10 for the first time since 1991 and no Russians were picked in the first round at all. And the Kings used the 11th pick on top-ranked European skater Anze Kopitar, a 6-3, 202-pound center who would be the first Slovenian to play in the NHL.

Amid so many tales that are beginning to unfold, the road already traveled by right wing Bobby Ryan stands out.

Ryan, chosen by the Mighty Ducks with the second pick, lived in Southern California from age 12 to 16 after his father, Robert, fled their New Jersey home to elude a charge of attempted murder filed by Ryan’s mother, Melody. She forgave her husband and joined him in California with their son; they lived in El Segundo, near the Kings’ practice facility, and changed their last name from Stevenson to Ryan.

Robert, who had started Bobby in ice and roller hockey in south Jersey, enrolled his son in the Junior Kings’ peewee and midget programs. Melody home-schooled Bobby and worked at the admission booth at the Westminster Ice Palace.

“He’d be doing his homework in the office and when he finished up, he’d play pickup games against a bunch of older guys,” said Bill Gurney, the Kings’ video coordinator and a participant in some of those games. “He was very good then. He was tall. Looking at him today, it’s obvious he’s a man now.”

Robert Stevenson was caught and went to prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and jumping bail. Bobby and his mother, who is no longer with his father, moved back east, where Bobby grew into a 6-1, 213-pound power forward who won raves from scouts for his fearlessness and unselfish play. Last season, his second with Owen Sound of the Ontario Hockey League, he scored 37 goals and 89 points in 62 games, and he’s ticketed to return there next season.

If Ryan matured faster because of his family situation he was reluctant to say so in a telephone interview.

“I was too young at that point to really know what was going on,” said Ryan, who won two national titles with the Junior Kings. “My relationship is great with both of my parents and I love them dearly.

“My story has been documented and is probably going to be documented again. Today is a special kind of day for me and I don’t want to focus on the negative.”

Duck General Manager Brian Burke, who said he’d been “spectacularly unsuccessful” in trying to trade the pick for immediate help, compared Ryan to Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi in that both draw coverage and set up their linemates well. Burke said he was especially impressed with Ryan’s unpretentiousness during a pre-draft meeting, calling it the best interview he’d ever conducted. “He cemented his case,” Burke said.

Gurney said he was unaware of Ryan’s family history when they played at Westminster. “He was a great kid and got along well with everybody and showed a lot of respect for adults,” Gurney said. “When [TSN] showed a clip of him scoring a goal, it was exactly what he used to do: he’d come out in front of the net, a little lower, hunched over, and he’d score.”

The Ducks traded their sixth-round pick and a 2006 seventh-round pick to move up and take one of Ryan’s Junior King teammates, defenseman Brian Salcido of Hermosa Beach and Colorado College, in the fifth round, 141st overall. With the second-round pick (31st overall) that they’d gotten from Tampa Bay for Vaclav Prospal, they took defenseman Brendan Mikkelson of Portland of the Western Hockey League.

Separately, the Ducks acquired left wing Travis Moen from the Blackhawks for right wing Michael Holmqvist. Moen had eight goals, 20 points and 187 penalty minutes in 79 games with Norfolk of the American Hockey League last season.

The Colorado Avalanche used the 124th pick on another Southern California product, defenseman Ray Macias of Long Beach. After Ryan, Carolina used the third pick on hard-hitting defenseman Jack Johnson of Indianapolis, Chicago chose seventh and picked right wing Jack Skille of Madison, Wis., and Minnesota high school Mr. Hockey Brian Lee was chosen ninth by Ottawa, the first time four U.S.-born players made the top 10.

The Kings’ choice of Kopitar was unconventional but solid. As a 17-year-old last season he had 28 goals and 49 points in 30 games with Sodertalje of the Swedish Junior League, and he impressed King scouts by scoring 11 points in five games at the world under-18 championships and by scoring a goal in six games at the senior World Championships.

With their second-round pick, 50th overall, the Kings chose Dany Roussin, who scored 54 goals and 116 points as Crosby’s left wing with Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Roussin was drafted by Florida in 2003 but couldn’t agree on a contract with the Panthers.

“We’re looking at a potential home run to have Anze Kopitar fall to 11,” General Manager Dave Taylor told reporters during a conference call from Ottawa. “He’s a big kid with unbelievable hands and skill. The numbers he had in his junior league were very strong, and playing with men he certainly didn’t look out of place.”

Kopitar, whose father, Matjaz, is an assistant coach of Slovenia’s national team, said he left home because “Slovenia is a very, very small country in hockey.... After a couple of years I realized if I stayed there, it would not be a good challenge for me.”

He saw little of the NHL while growing up and said that all he knows of Los Angeles “is from TV. I know there’s some really big stars living there.”

And maybe more to come.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Picks by Mighty Ducks, Kings

Selections by local teams in Saturday’s NHL draft:

MIGHTY DUCKS

*--* No. Rnd Name Pos. Club/League 2004-05 Statistics 2 1 Bobby Ryan RW Owen Sound/OHL 62 GP, 37 GL, 52 A 31 2 Brendan Mikkelson D Portland /WHL 70 GP, 5 GL, 10 A 63 3 Jason Bailey RW U.S. under-18 39 GP, 5 GL, 6 team A 127 5 Bobby Bolt LW Kingston/OHL 67 GP, 11 GL, 14 A 141 5 Brian Salcido D Colorado 38 GP, 7 GL, Coll./WCHA 23 A 197 7 Jean-Philippe G Rouyn-Noranda/Q 29 GP, 3.38 GAA Levasseur MJHL

*--*

KINGS

*--* No. Rnd Name Pos. Club/League 2004-05 Statistics 11 1 Anze Kopitar C Sodertlje/SJL 30 GP, 28 GL, 21 A 50 2 Dany Roussin LW Rimouski/QMJHL 69 GP, 54 GL, 62 A 60 2 T.J. Fast D Camrose/AJHL 58 GP, 8 GL, 28 A 72 3 Jon Quick G Avon Old Farms H.S. 27 GP, 1.14 GAA 131 5 Patrik Hersley D Malmo/SJL 31 GP, 8 GL, 14 A 184 6 Ryan McGinnis D Plymouth/OHL 66 GP, 0 GL, 6 A 206 7 Josh Meyers D Sioux City/USHL 57 GP. 8 GL, 24 A 226 7 John Seymour C Brampton/OHL 63 GP, 1 GL, 4 A

*--*

Leagues: Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), Swedish Junior League (SJL), Western Collegiate Hockey Assn. (WCHA), Western Hockey League (WHL), U.S. Hockey League (USHL)

--

Local additions

First-round picks of the Mighty Ducks and Kings:

MIGHTY DUCKS: Selected Bobby Ryan with the No. 2 overall pick.

Comment: The 6-foot-1, 213-pound right winger had 37 goals and 52 assists in 62 games in the Ontario Hockey League last season.

KINGS: Selected

Anze Kopitar with the

No. 11 overall pick.

Comment: The 6-foot-3, 202-pound center had 28 goals in 30 games in the Swedish Junior League. He could become the first Slovenian player in the NHL.