Parrish, Kvasha traded to Isles

FLORIDA PANTHERS

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CALGARY, Alberta -- "Do what?" "Why?" "Pourquoi?" "¿Porqué?"

That covers the reactions ricocheting around Canadian Airlines Saddledome after the Panthers and Islanders opened the NHL entry draft with a trade that, in the Panthers' estimation, will help Florida win a Stanley Cup down the road.

The Panthers sent right wing Mark Parrish, who scored 24 and 26 goals in his first two seasons; and center Oleg Kvasha to the Islanders for 21-year-old goalie Roberto Luongo, the highest touted goaltending prospect perhaps ever, and 1997 No. 3 overall pick, center Olli Jokinen.

New York then used the draft's top pick to take Boston University goalie Rick DiPietro -- the first goalie to be drafted No. 1 overall.

Panthers general manager Bryan Murray was excited about the acquisition of Luongo, who went 7-14-1 with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage for a woeful Islanders team that was 26th out of 28 teams defensively last season -- Luongo's first in the NHL.

"If you want to win a Stanley Cup, you have to have one of the best goaltenders in the NHL," Murray said. "Luongo will be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. He's got games to be played and developments to take place. That's unfair to him to put that kind of pressure on him, but that's what he's handled all his life.

"He gives the Panthers' franchise a chance for a long time to be a champion. `And no forward, even Pavel Bure, without all the help we have to give, can do that.''

The inherent pressure of such analysis doesn't bother Luongo: "It's something I've learned to deal with over the past five or six years. The same thing happened in junior.''

Upon hearing the Isles put goalie Kevin Weekes in a deal with Tampa Bay for the No. 5 overall pick, Luongo figured he definitely would stay with the Islanders. Teary emotion was Luongo's initial reaction to being traded.

``This was my first year aboard,'' Luongo said. ``I was starting to meet some people, starting to feel more at home. To learn this now, it's like a new beginning all over again.''

Panthers coach Terry Murray said Luongo would be given an opportunity to compete with Trevor Kidd to be the Panthers' No. 1 goalie, and Jokinen would get his shot as Bure's center in training camp.

DiPietro, the Isles' top pick, is a brash shooter from both the mouth and the goalmouth. Both qualities, especially the latter, prompted Islanders general manager Mike Milbury to use Luongo and Weekes, a former Panthers goalie prospect, as trade fodder.

``Rolling the dice here a bit,'' admitted Milbury, who also said DiPietro could be the Isles' starting goalie on opening night. ``We exchanged those guys to fill two significant needs -- a center to complement Tim Connolly and scoring off the wing.''

Once Milbury became interested in DiPietro's puckhandling skills, Murray knew he could fish Luongo from the Isles' talent pool. DiPietro hit almost every Milbury weakness -- U.S.-born and connected to the Boston area where Milbury was born, raised, played and coached in the NHL.

When the deal was announced, a shout of ``trade Milbury!'' sprang from the crowd.

Previously, the earliest goalie call in a draft was No. 4, which was where the Islanders took Luongo in 1997. In a recent poll of NHL scouts by The Hockey News, Luongo was the only NHL prospect considered a certain superstar.

``In interviews, you ask goalies, `Why do you play the way you do?' and they say, `Patrick Roy,' '' said Panthers amateur scouting director Tim Murray. ``The next generation of kids will say, `Roberto Luongo.' ''

Dealing Parrish puts the Panthers' chips on 1999 first-round pick Denis Shvidki, 1997 fourth-round pick Ivan Novoseltsev and/or still-to-be-signed 1997 second-round pick Kristian Huselius to help take up the goal-scoring slack. Bryan Murray insisted trading Parrish didn't weaken the Panthers' negotiating position with left wing Ray Whitney.

Terry Murray talked about moving Rob Niedermayer, who also has to be re-signed, to left wing permanently and using Mike Sillinger as a right wing or third-line center.

But the Panthers also lose Parrish's leadership and character, commodities that can make a huge difference in the parity party that is the NHL.

``It was really a different kind of `good morning' for me,'' Parrish said in a jerky speech rhythm Saturday. ``I realized I wasn't going to be in Florida for my whole career. I'm a little surprised. I didn't expect it to be this soon.''

The Islanders long have coveted Kvasha. Milbury admitted they've followed Kvasha as much as any player in the league. He was almost sent to Long Island in a trade that would've brought defenseman Kenny Jonsson and Isles leading scorer Mariusz Czerkawski to the Panthers.

By the end of the season, the Panthers were saying they should've started Kvasha in the minors this season. Kvasha's follow-up to his promising rookie season saw him get only five goals and 20 assists, mostly in a fourth-line role.

``Kvasha isn't anywhere near what he's going to be,'' Bryan Murray said. ``I think Jokinen is the same way.''

Big and skilled with a belligerent physical side, Jokinen was originally drafted by Los Angeles. He spent most of the 1997-98 season in the Finnish League, and the 1998-99 season with Los Angeles with a few games in Springfield.

Jokinen came into last year's training camp overweight and feeling the Isles didn't want him. As a matter of fact, he wasn't the Isles' first choice to be part of the package Los Angeles sent to New York last June in the trade for star right wing Ziggy Palffy.