Hockey Players Contracts

The Mighty Ducks and goaltender Guy Hebert are completing details of an incentive-laden three-year contract and will avoid a Friday arbitration hearing, agent Brian Cook said Tuesday. Hebert was seeking a raise that would put him close to the $1.2 million-a-year average salary for starting goalies. However, Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira offered Hebert a deal that will pay him slightly less than $1 million a year but has bonuses and incentives.

The Mighty Ducks on Thursday acquired left wing Todd Krygier from Washington, where he had asked to be traded. The Ducks sent the Capitals their fourth-round pick in the 1996 draft. "Things were stagnant in Washington," Krygier said. "I was looking for an opportunity to move my career along. I think it's always tough to hear you're not going to fit into a team's plans." Krygier had 12 goals and 18 assists for the Capitals last season, matching his NHL career high of 30 points.

Goaltender Grant Fuhr, acquired by the Kings in a controversial midseason trade with Buffalo, signed Tuesday with the St. Louis Blues. Because the 32-year-old Fuhr is an unrestricted free agent, the Kings receive no compensation. Fuhr appeared in 14 games with the Kings, going 1-7-3 with a goals-against average of 4.04 last season.

It has been nine months since the Mighty Ducks last played a game, and that's all the more reason the team is relieved Patrik Carnback is supposed to be on his way back to the team from Sweden today. "We've agreed on a deal, he just has to get here to sign it," said General Manager Jack Ferreira, who gave Carnback a raise and a contract extension to return from Goteborg, where he played during the NHL lockout. (Carnback even faced Wayne Gretzky's team of all-stars on its European tour.

The Kings began searching for defensive help after losing defenseman Donald Dufresne to the St. Louis Blues in Wednesday's NHL waiver draft. Dufresne, who was acquired from Tampa Bay for a sixth-round draft pick last March, was scoreless in nine games last season. He would have been the Kings' seventh defenseman, and his departure leaves them with no spares.

First-round draft pick Chad Kilger signed a three-year, $2.55-million contract with the Mighty Ducks Thursday night after his standout preseason made the deal almost a foregone conclusion. The No. 4 pick overall, Kilger came to camp without a contract but proved himself by becoming the Ducks' second-leading scorer during the exhibition season while playing on a line with left wing Paul Kariya. He had four goals and 10 points in eight games. "A lot of guys like to sit out.

Mighty Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira knew two weeks ago that he had little choice but to reach a deal with first-round draft pick Chad Kilger, who signed a three-year, $2.55-million contract Thursday night. His wife, Kathy, told him so in so many words. "I walked up to her after the Boston game and she didn't say, 'Good game,' or anything," Ferreira said. "She just said, 'You're going to sign Kilger, aren't you? You can't let him get away.' I knew I was in trouble. I knew had to sign him."

The uncertainty created by the NHL's new entry-level salary system has led the Mighty Ducks and the agent for No. 4 overall pick Chad Kilger to take a wait-and-see approach. "We're resolved to wait until the others determine what the market is," said agent Larry Kelly, though he added that he expects a deal by the end of the month. Though unsigned, Kilger is in camp and playing well after the Ducks made an irrevocable three-year, $2.

Paul Kariya is awaiting a new contract offer from the Mighty Ducks this week, and agent Don Baizley said Kariya then will have to wrestle with a decision--whether to sign or pursue an NHL ruling Baizley believes would make his client a free agent for the 1995-96 season if he sits out this season. The catch could end up being this: The league is declining to give a rules interpretation on a hypothetical situation, meaning Kariya might have to make a decision without knowing its repercussions.

The Mighty Ducks have made a dramatic bid to end their contract stalemate with Paul Kariya, improving their original offer by more than $1 million a year. Sources said the formal offer made Friday is a three-year deal worth at least $6 million--an average of at least $2 million a year, including signing bonuses.