Defenseman Tverdovsky Agrees to Deal With Ducks

Defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky accepted the Mighty Ducks’ one-year contract offer on Wednesday. The deal is worth $1.7 million.

Tverdovsky was acquired on June 26 from Phoenix in exchange for center Travis Green and the Ducks’ first-round pick. He had only seven goals and 25 points last season but has been productive in the past. Tverdovsky had 10 goals and 55 points during the 1996-97 season. A similar season playing with Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne should improve Tverdovsky’s bargaining position.

Both sides seemed willing to risk that.

“I don’t deal from fear,” Duck General Manager Pierre Gauthier said. “ I feel we can make market-value deals with anybody. I hope next year we have to pay Oleg a whole lot of money because that means he had a great year.”

Tverdovsky was the Ducks’ No. 1 pick (second overall) in the 1994 draft. He was traded to Winnipeg (now Phoenix) in the the deal that brought Teemu Selanne to the Ducks in 1996.

Tverdovsky, 23, had a stormy three seasons with the Coyotes. He was a big reason Phoenix reached the playoffs, but he also feuded with teammates. He missed 35 games while holding out during the 1997-98 season, then signed a two-year, $3.1-million deal, which paid him $1.7 million last season.

He appealed to the Ducks, who had little offense from the blue line other than from 32-year-old Fredrik Olausson last season.

“Oleg was the type of guy we were looking for,” Gauthier said. “He will step right in and add something to the team that we didn’t have.”

Tverdovsky’s signing leaves the Ducks with four key players unsigned: defensemen Ruslan Salei, Jason Marshall and Pavel Trnka and center Antti Aalto. All are restricted free agents.

Marshall, who made $400,000 last season, has filed for arbitration, tentatively set for Aug. 10.

Gauthier also said the Ducks were not going to get too involved in the free-agent market. They attempted to sign center Tim Taylor, who signed a four-year $5.8 million contract with the Rangers.

“It’s a weak year for free agents,” Gauthier said. “We all know what the Rangers are doing and we let them do it. We don’t need to go out and sign three, four or five guys.”