Lydman hoping health allows him to play at home

Returning home often is a recipe for reflection.

It's no different for Toni Lydman, who returns to his native Finland as a member of the Anaheim Ducks as they spend a week in Helsinki preparing for the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere games against the Buffalo Sabres (Helsinki, Oct. 7) and the New York Rangers (Stockholm, Oct. 8).

With the trip home -- where he'll play in front of family, friends, former teammates and many others in the tight-knit Finnish hockey community that helped him reach this point in his professional career -- just days away, Lydman has spent more than a bit of time reminiscing about the road he has travelled to become a full-time player in the best hockey league in the world.

"It's obviously a cool thing to do," Lydman said of the season-opening games in Europe. "It's been a while since I have played anywhere near Finland. It's an exciting way to start the season, I guess. A little different from usual start, so I am looking forward to it."

Before their opener against the Sabres, the Ducks will play a preseason game against traditional Finnish power Jokerit.

Lydman, coming back from summer shoulder surgery, isn't sure he will be able to play in the regular-season game in his home country. He started practicing with the club during training camp and is on schedule with his rehabilitation, and if things continue on that path, he should be cleared right around the time of the Premiere game in Helsinki.

If that clearance comes after the Ducks play Buffalo at Hartwall Arena on Oct. 7, it is something Lydman can live with -- unhappily, perhaps.

"I'm hoping to be back for the opener," he told NHL.com in early September. "Everything is going good. I'm on schedule and skating and all that. Hopefully, (playing in Finland) is possible, and that is the goal, but I'm not going to risk it if (the shoulder) is not ready."

But whether he is standing on the ice when the Finnish anthem is played before the regular-season game against the Sabres or he is sitting in the press box watching his teammates play in a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle, Lydman likely will spend a bit of time marveling at the long, strange journey that delivered him to this night as a returning NHL hero considered to be among the best Finnish-born defenseman of his generation.

After all, it wasn't that long ago that Lydman was hoping just to find his way in the top Finnish pro league, SM-liiga.

Fifteen years ago, as a 19-year-old, Lydman played in his first SM-liiga game, suiting up for Tampere after a long apprenticeship with the Reipas program in his hometown of Lahti.

On that night, and all the nights that followed that season, the reality of playing in Finland's top league, in front of family and friends, was the pinnacle. The NHL was nothing more than a daydream, a pleasant diversion while laboring through practices or working in the weight room.

"It was a dream to come and play in the National Hockey League, of course, but I didn't really expect it until the draft," Lydman said.

Lydman was taken by Calgary in the fourth round of the 1996 Entry Draft just before he joined the Tampere club -- a fortuitous turn of events that shaped the rest of his hockey career.

"When I got drafted, I thought maybe there was a chance if I kept working even harder," Lydman said.

After two seasons with Tappara and another two years with HIFK Helsinki -- Jokerit's biggest rival, by the way -- Lydman was deemed ready for the NHL and joined the Flames at the start of the 2000-01 season.

Despite the passage of more than a decade, he still remembers like yesterday the night he was told he would be in the lineup for the first time.

"I was getting dressed for that first game, I remember thinking, 'At least I get one game,'" Lydman said, chuckling as he recalled the milestone. "You know, things worked out well."

That's a bit of an understatement. Things have worked out fantastic for Lydman, who has played more than 700 NHL games for the Flames, the Buffalo Sabres and, for the past two seasons, the Ducks. Last season, Lydman had 25 points and a plus-32 rating, which was a personal best and just one behind the League-best total of Norris Trophy finalist Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins.

Now he brings those gaudy numbers back to Finland, returning as a mainstay for a Ducks team laden with Finnish stars that will dominate the news cycle in their home country for the first eight days of October. He once again will be near family and friends, and if his shoulder cooperates, could play before those adoring family, friends and fans for the first time since playing eight games with HIFK Helsinki during the 2004-05 season.

"Last time, I played in Finland was during the lockout," Lydman said. "It's been a long time since that, too."