UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (02/06/00)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Former baby Duck back all grown up

No need to go scampering for the official dental records - that really is defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky playing a responsible, all-around game for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Forgive the skepticism, but those who witnessed Tverdovsky's first incarnation in Anaheim remember a mistake-prone kid who didn't live up to overzealous expectations. The new version of the slick-skating Duck is a far cry from the 19-year-old last seen packing his bags and winter coat for frigid Winnipeg on February 7, 1996.

More than three years after being sent to the Winnipeg Jets - along with center Chad Kilger and a draft pick - in the deal that landed Anaheim superstar Teemu Selanne, Tverdovsky looks like the complete package. He has retained his offensive skills, but his defensive game has taken a quantum leap forward and he has become more popular in the dressing room.

"It's a totally different guy," said Anaheim captain Paul Kariya, who was around the first time Tverdovsky was a Duck. "Not that he was a bad person before, but his personality has started to come through and it shows on the ice."

The Donetsk, Ukraine, native was selected second overall by Anaheim in 1994, the team's highest-ever draft pick. That's when life under the proverbial magnifying glass began. Tverdovsky, who didn't decide to pursue a hockey career until he was 15, was thrust into a spotlight for which he wasn't ready.

"It was hard at the time," he said. "I was a young kid making mistakes on a team that couldn't afford to make mistakes. It wasn't like I didn't fit in, but it wasn't the right time to be a young player on the team."

The 1994-1995 version of the Mighty Ducks was the worst in franchise history, sputtering their way to only 16 wins.

Tverdovsky's stay in Anaheim ended the next season with the trade. In three-plus seasons with the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes - a club both skilled and deep on the blue line - Tverdovsky learned the nuances of playing NHL-level defense. Coyote rearguard Teppo Numminen has been given some of the credit for aiding Tverdovsky's maturation process, while veteran Rick Tocchet was another player to whom the youngster looked for advice.

"He doesn't gamble anymore in his own zone," said Anaheim assistant GM David McNabb. "He's learned that in certain situations it's better to be safe. He's not turning the puck over in his own end at all."

Tverdovsky, now all of 23, returned to the Ducks in a draft-day trade last June in exchange for center Travis Green and Anaheim's first-round pick (Scott Kelman).

"The years he spent in Winnipeg and Phoenix he must have played with some good defensemen," said goalie Guy Hebert, another Duck who has seen both the before and after of Tverdovsky. "He has worked on the defensive part of his game which, you can't kid anybody, was what was really lacking when he was here the first time."

A lot has changed for both player and team since the trade that sent him away. Tverdovsky is much more capable and consistent in his own end, while the Ducks are no longer goal-starved. Coach Craig Hartsburg has foregone the neutral zone trap, the choice of his predecessor, Ron Wilson, for an aggressive style.

"(The trap) really confined Oleg's talents," Hebert said. "Craig wants to play a more exciting, up-tempo game. Craig has given Oleg more latitude where he can jump up into the play."

Tverdovsky and Wilson never saw eye to eye on the defenseman's role. But his offensive instincts and defensive improvement have given Hartsburg the opportunity to utilize a rare coaching strategy - that of sending out five players as a group instead of separate forward units and defensive pairings.

Tverdovsky, with partner Pavel Trnka, has played routinely with the No. 1 line of Kariya-Matt Cullen-Selanne. It has translated well on the stat sheets, as Kariya (40 points), Selanne (34), Cullen (21) and Tverdovsky ranked 1-2-4-5 in team scoring. Tverdovsky, who has four goals and 19 points in 42 games, has also spent more time on the pond than any other Duck, averaging a little over 23 minutes of ice time, and is a plus-4.

All the ice time hasn't slowed him down a bit. His speed is always evident, as is the grace and ease with which he jumps into the play.

"He has the speed a lot of guys don't have," Hebert said. "When we're in trouble, some guys will just bang it off the glass and ice the puck. Oleg can create more because he takes those first couple of strides and gets away from the forechecker and moves the puck up."

Tverdovsky's numbers steadily declined in Phoenix (from a career-high 55 points in 1996-1997 to 25 last season) as his defensive awareness grew. But, as evidenced by his play so far this year, he is blending all of his talents into a more well-rounded game.

Along with the defensive lapses, Tverdovsky has also lost the expectations and comparisons that were thrust upon him after being drafted second overall.

"Oleg was supposed to be (the next) Bobby Orr, and that was terribly unfair to ask of an 18-year-old coming into an expansion team," McNabb said. "Now he knows what it takes to be successful, and his game has come together.

"Oleg is now just Oleg. He doesn't have to be someone else anymore."

Khristich's revenge short-lived

It was a delicious revenge fantasy fulfilled. Almost.

Dmitri Khristich, spurned by the Boston Bruins when he was awarded a $2.8 million contract at an arbitration hearing, returned to Boston as a Toronto Maple Leaf on November 11, looking for a little payback. Actually, maybe more than a little.

The Ukraine-born forward heightened the drama by taking pre-game potshots at Bruins' management, particularly GM Harry Sinden, who had said Khristich was a non-factor in last year's stretch drive and playoffs.

"Yeah, well (Sinden) hasn't been a factor the past 26 years," Khristich said. "The team is not going anywhere."

Sinden, for his part, said of Khristich: "I read somewhere he said he didn't get treated fairly, but that's a two-way street. He didn't treat us fairly, he played like (crap)."

With the stage set, Khristich followed the Hollywood-like script. The Toronto winger scored the opening goal, pumping both fists in the air to a chorus of loud boos at the Fleet Center.

"That felt good, a little more than the usual goal," Khristich said. "I've got nothing to prove to Harry, he's not my problem anymore. I don't even want to know him."

Despite the team's off-night - the Leafs blew a 3-1 third period lead and lost 4-3 in overtime as Khristich's replacement, ex-Leaf Dave Andreychuk (also Ukrainian), scored twice - Khristich has been a valuable addition since the Leafs traded a second round draft pick for his rights and then signed him on October 21, 1999, to a four-year, $10.35 million deal.

Playing left wing, he has nine goals and 19 points in his first 34 games as a Leaf and, just as important, the 30-year-old has been a steadying influence in the development of linemate Nik Antropov, a 19-year-old rookie center.

UKRAINIAN UTTERINGS: Phoenix left-winger Keith Tkachuk had scored a goal in just one game during an 11-game stretch before scoring the winner at Los Angeles on November 18, 1999. "I've been putting too much pressure on myself, but I've done that ever since I came into the league," said Tkachuk, who has 16 goals in 34 games. ... Center Wayne Gretzky became the first hockey player to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on November 13, 1999, when he joined Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Chairman A.L. Flood and exchange officials to celebrate CIBC's big board listing. ... Carolina signed Curtis Leschyshyn to a new contract, keeping the defenseman from becoming an unrestricted free agent. It's a three-year deal worth $4.9 million...

(Quotations courtesy of Mike Gibb, Paul Hunter and The Hockey News.)

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