Goalie Healy Quickly Becomes the First Duck to Leave Nest

QUEBEC CITY â€”  The day after the selection of the first Mighty Ducks, Glenn Healy became the first former Mighty Duck.

Anaheim’s NHL expansion team lost its biggest-name player when it left him unprotected in Phase II of the expansion draft Friday, allowing Tampa Bay to claim him and quickly trade him to the New York Rangers.

The Ducks, who had taken the former King with the third pick during Phase I on Thursday, were allowed to protect only one goalie in Friday’s reverse mini-draft, in which Ottawa, San Jose and Tampa Bay, recent expansion teams, selected from the rosters of the Ducks and Florida Panthers, the newest expansion teams.

Instead of Healy, whose hot streak helped the New York Islanders upset Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Ducks protected Guy Hebert, who was their first goalie, picked at No. 2, but has never been an NHL starter.

“We have no regrets,� General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “It was definitely Hebert we were going to protect. We took him first. He was definitely our guy.�

At 26, Hebert is four years younger than Healy.

The team had hoped that Healy might slip through Phase II, but Tampa Bay General Manager Phil Esposito took Healy, then traded him to the Rangers for a third-round pick.

The Ducks--who also have goalie Ron Tugnutt, formerly of Edmonton--also lost Dennis Vial, who was their second-to-last pick among the defensemen Thursday. Vial, 24, formerly of the Lightning, was claimed by Ottawa. As they had in Healy’s case, the Ducks took $100,000 in compensation instead of choosing another player.