Friday, November 3 Keeping Ducks in a row By George Johnson Special to ESPN.com

Why, it'd be like splitting up Bartles and James; white wine and fish; Liberace and sequins. Like separating George Gershwin's music from brother Ira's lyrics or Dennis Rodman from his nose rings.

Sure, Lucy and Desi broke up. And Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. But not every celebrity union has to go by the boards, does it?

From an artistic and sensibility standpoint, Anaheim's Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne belong together. Forever. They are kindred spirits. Special individuals who alone -- but most especially as a tandem -- are capable of raising a watered-down sport whose motto shouldn't be "The Coolest Game on Earth" but rather "Hard Off the Glass!" into a realm of speed and grace.

	Selanne has been told he's safe and won't be traded.

But dynamism and artistic flair don't always equal success.

So the rumor of their breakup caught fire in New York (where else?) and swept through an internet-driven business:

Selanne, one half of the Ducks' gold-dust twins, to the New Jersey Devils for a passel of players.

So the Finnish Flash officially joined a list of illustrious names from the Western Conference destined to be dealt. Alongside Keith Tkachuk and Mark Messier and Doug Gilmour. Yes, it's that time of year -- a month before the trade embargo.

Annually, there's better fiction written between now and the deadline than in a comprehensive compilation of Hemingway's short stories.

"When I heard it," says Kariya, asked about the Selanne rumours, "I giggled."

Selanne, however, wasn't executing cartwheels of hilarity.

"You can say it doesn't worry you, but in the back of your mind you wonder," he admits. "That's why for me it was important that (GM) Pierre (Gauthier) come out and make a statement. He came to me personally, too, and told me they were just rumors. That there was nothing to them.

"I just want to forget about it now and concentrate on playing. We're in a playoff race, and you don't need any distractions."

That, obviously, was the GM's motive in making a rare public statement of this sort.

"I'm not going to answer every trade rumor," Gauthier told the Los Angeles Times. "But this one is so out of whack that it had to be addressed. It's a total fabrication. There's no way we're trading these boys. It's out of the question. They are treasures."

That they are. But unless the treasures begin to reap larger dividends in the standings, opinions are apt to change.

If the Ducks fail to qualify for the playoffs this year, the second in coach Craig Hartsburg's tenure, it's going to make a lot more sense to at least entertain the idea of dealing Selanne ...