July 1st; Meet the new duck, Toni Lydman + Koivu re-signs and still no new deal with Bobby Ryan

So, now the July 1st is over and not much has happened with the Ducks. Although, that might not be entirely a bad thing, since the Ducks didn't overpay at all in the first day of the free agency, to get the guy they wanted on their backend, and that guy, is Toni Lydman. He's one of the defenceman I put on my list which I hoped DUcks GM Bob Murray would take a look at. Lydman signed a 3-year contract with Anaheim, which pays him $9 million overall ($3M/year). Ducks also re-signed their assistant captain Saku Koivu to a $5 million deal, which pays the Finnish native Koivu $2.5 million per year. Ducks winger Bobby Ryan did not sign a new deal with the Ducks yesterday, rejecting five-year deal worth $25 million offer from the Ducks. When it comes to the negotiations of Ryan's new contract, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray was also quoted saying that he's “done for a while”, which certainly doesn't sound that promising to the countless number of Ducks fans waiting their star winger to re-sign. Murray also said that now that Koivu is re-signed, he expect to get in touch with Selanne later. Obviously we all hope that Teemu still wants to come back to play with the Ducks this season, and now that Koivu is re-signed, I think there is a good chance that 'Finnish Flash' ain't quite done yet.

As an avid Team Finland follower, I have had the chance to watch Toni Lydman play many times over the years. Lydman could be described as a solid all-around defenceman, who's strenght is smart, positional defensive play to go along with his smooth skating. He sometimes makes the occasional defensive gaffe, but he still would be a consistent #3-4 guy on pretty much any team in the NHL, and I think that's exactly the role Lydman will be playing on the Ducks defence. He pretty much always makes the simple play, and overall tries to play mistake-free hockey. He is also good on the PK, can play the powerplay and he likes to block shots, which probably is going to come in handy with the Ducks this season. My personal opinion is, that this a very good signing by Anaheim, and I think that Lydman is going to provide lots of stability on the Ducks defence the next 3 years.

Ducks basically played it safe on this year's July 1st, but that doesn't necessarily mean, that the Ducks are done when it comes to shaping their roster for this upcoming season. I think (and hope for Hiller's sake) that GM Bob Murray is still looking to capture one quality defenceman, maybe from the free agency, or perhaps in some kind of a trade. It remains to be seen what Murray has in his mind, but I think we'll know soon enough.

Go Ducks!