BY DAVID J. NEAL 

When then-Panthers general manager Bryan Murray asked then-pro scout Duane Sutter about whom the Panthers should try to get for center Igor Larionov, Sutter thought of defenseman Yan Golubovsky. 
``I felt this guy has a chance,'' Sutter recalled saying. ``I think he's been buried in a really good organization and needs an opportunity.'' 

Golubovsky got into only 50 games with Detroit before being traded to the Panthers for Larionov on Dec. 27. Friday, he began the game paired with Anders Eriksson, with whom Golubovsky played in Adirondack, Detroit's minor-league team, during 1994-95. 

Detroit had many of the same scouts now working for the Panthers when they took Golubovsky with the 23rd pick in 1994. The other player the Red Wings considered at that draft, center Chris Wells, was taken next by Pittsburgh. 

The 24-year-old Golubovsky grew up watching Larionov and the Central Red Army. 

``It's kind of, I don't know if `amazing' is the right word,'' Golubovsky said. ``You're traded for a legend.''