Ducks Will Sign Russia’s Chistov

Center Stanislav Chistov, the Mighty Ducks’ No. 1 draft pick in 2001, has left Russia and will sign with the team after nearly a year of road blocks and intrigue, a hockey source said Monday.

Chistov, the fifth player selected in the draft, and forward Alexander Svitov, who Tampa Bay selected third overall, remained in Russia the last year as officials from Avangard Omsk, their club team, fought to keep them.

Svitov was in Tampa, Fla., on Monday when Lightning officials announced he would be able to honor the three-year contract he signed last summer. Chistov is expected to sign this week.

Duck officials said they would announce a signing today, but would not reveal the name.

Chistov, 19, is an exceptional playmaker and scorer, although there are some concerns about his size, 5 feet 10 and 178 pounds.

Chistov helped Russia’s junior national team win the 2001 World Championship by scoring four goals in the tournament. He was most valuable player of the championship game, a 5-4 victory over Canada.

Chistov will need time to mature and adjust to the NHL’s more physical style, but his addition is a step in the right direction for the Ducks, who scored the second-fewest points in the league last season.

Duck and Lightning officials have been frustrated since July, when Omsk President Anatoliy Bardin claimed Chistov and Svitov had been inducted into the Russian army in December, 2000. Under the NHL’s deal with the International Ice Hockey Federation, compulsory military service is the only thing that prevents an NHL team from signing a drafted player.

“I was called a deserter,” Chistov told Soviet Sport in December. “I was sent to the sports regiment [of the Airborne forces]. My service there continued for 11 days, during which I practically did not do a thing, though I did wear army boots.”

Chistov and Svitov were to serve two years in the army, but agent Jay Grossman recently secured their release.

New Jersey’s Andrei Zyuzin and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Alexeev, bought their release from the army for about $50,000 each, hockey sources said. Svitov told the St. Petersburg Times that no financial arrangements were made for him or Chistov.