Berard Goes First; Canucks Deal For Mogilny

Topped by Bryan Berard, it was defense first at Saturday’s NHL draft.

But the Vancouver Canucks stole the spotlight from the hopeful amateur players by pulling off a big trade for All-Star Alexander Mogilny.

While the first-round picks mainly followed form, the Canucks gave up their first-round pick and two players with little NHL experience to snatch the high-scoring forward from Buffalo.

Mogilny, who scored a league-leading 76 goals in 1992-93 and has 211 goals in his six-year NHL career, moved to Vancouver for center Mike Peca, who has one year of NHL experience, and defenseman Mike Wilson, who has none.

In addition, the teams exchanged draft picks, with Vancouver’s No. 1, 14th overall, going to Buffalo for the Sabres’ fifth-round pick.

With the pick, the Sabres selected Canadian juniors defenseman Jay McKee, one of nine blue-liners picked in the first round in this “Year of the Defenseman.” The Sabres, who had two picks in the opening round, then selected Canadian juniors goaltender Martin Biron with No. 16.

Biron was one of four goalies picked in the opening round as defensive-minded NHL teams hoped to find another gem like Martin Brodeur, who helped the New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup this year.

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, announced the acquisition of veteran defenseman Larry Murphy from Pittsburgh for defenseman Dmitri Mironov and a second-round pick next year. In another trade, Los Angeles gave Washington two picks for next year’s draft, including its No. 1, for forward Dimitri Khristich and goaltender Byron Dafoe.

By that time, the NHL draft had established a couple of precedents. This was the first time that defensemen had been selected 1-2-3, and the first time since 1974 that a defenseman has been selected No. 1 overall in two consecutive entry drafts since 1973 and 1974 when Denis Potvin was selected first by the New York Islanders and then Greg Joly by the Washington Capitals.

After the Senators went for Berard, the New York Islanders picked Wade Redden and the Los Angeles Kings chose Aki-Petteri Berg, as expected.

After dominating the premier selections, defensemen continued to be a hot commodity for NHL teams, who picked 75 in the nine rounds.

Redden, more of a stay-at-home defense man than Berard, was selected from Brandon of the Western Hockey League, one of nine players picked in the first round from the WHL.

“I guess when you are drafted this high, the team has a lot of plans for you,” Redden said. “Hopefully, I can make them happy.”

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This sidebar appeared with the story: FOUR CHIEFS DRAFTED Hartford selected defenseman Hugh Hamilton in the fifth round (113th pick), Colorado chose right wing John Cirjak in the sixth round (155th pick), Tampa Bay picked center Joe Cardarelli in the eighth round (186th) and Florida selected goaltender David Lemanowicz in the ninth round (218th).