York Trade Signals a Shift

The Ducks made two trades involving six players Tuesday, sending defenseman Jason York and center Shaun Van Allen to Ottawa for forward Ted Drury and defense prospect Marc Moro, then trading former King Kevin Brown to Hartford for the rights to center Espen Knutsen, who is playing in Sweden.

By trading York, 26, one of the team’s few experienced defensemen, the team indicated it will go with a younger corps. First-round pick Ruslan Salei, 21, will make the team, and Nikolai Tsulygin, also 21, probably will too. The performance of Adrian Plavsic, 26, convinced the team that York was expandable. Drury, 25, is a speedy two-way forward who had 16 points in 42 games for Ottawa last season before breaking his wrist. Moro, a physical defenseman who will play junior hockey this season, was the 27th pick overall in the 1995 draft.

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Coach Ron Wilson hinted at naming Paul Kariya the third team captain in franchise history.

Exactly when Kariya will start the season is anybody’s guess. He has been rehabilitating an abdominal muscle injury.

“It could be two weeks, it could be three weeks. It could be one week,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “We’re not putting any pressure on him whatsoever. It will be when he feels 100%.”