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Anaheim Ducks Interested In Josh Manson Reunion

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One of the most speculated-about scenarios at every trade deadline is one where a team, out of the playoff race, trades away an important pending free agent only to re-sign him a few months later. After all, why not lease the player for a nice deadline return of future assets, that make the team even stronger upon his return.

In practice, this rarely happens. Those deadline additions are either extended by their new team or reach free agency and suddenly find themselves surrounded by new suitors.

This year, it appears the Anaheim Ducks will be trying to pull off the unlikely scenario of bringing back a sold-off veteran. Pierre LeBrun reports on TSN’s Insider Trading that Anaheim has an interest in a reunion with Josh Manson, once his run to the Stanley Cup Final is finished with the Colorado Avalanche.

Manson, 30, has been a nice addition for the Avalanche, giving their defense corps some additional snarl while adding some nice (and likely unexpected) offense at key moments. As LeBrun notes though, it will be very difficult for Colorado to retain him, given how many other free agents they have on the roster–some of which they’re hoping to sign after the playoffs come to an end.

Meanwhile, Manson had seen his reputation around the league take a bit of a hit in recent years, as his minutes and effectiveness waned in Anaheim. That doesn’t mean the Ducks are done with him though, as he is extremely well-liked in that dressing room and could still be a nice veteran piece to help the team transition into the next phase of their build.

Currently carrying a $4.1MM cap hit, it will be interesting to see what Manson can command on the open market. His playoff performance has only driven his value back up but defensemen who don’t offer much offensively rarely get big paydays–at least in relative terms–in free agency.

Ducks Could Take Fliers On Young Talent This Offseason

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  • The Anaheim Ducks are entering what could be a transformative offseason under new general manager Pat Verbeek after the organization’s young talent took big steps forward in 2021-22. In a piece for The Athletic, Eric Stephens names a list of young players who the Ducks could take a flier on to add to that talent pool, including Carolina’s Martin Necas and Ethan Bear, Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi, Detroit’s Filip Zadina, and Chicago’s Dominik Kubalik. All of them have been mentioned in trade rumors recently after falling down the depth charts of their respective organizations. With a lot of turnover expected in Anaheim this offseason, due in part to the retirement of captain Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim could give a chance to one of these players to excel in more important roles.

John Gibson Denies He Wants To Leave Anaheim

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Last year, Ducks goaltender John Gibson didn’t exactly hide his frustration with Anaheim being a non-playoff team.  With a rebuild squarely in the works now, some have wondered if he’d be looking for a move this summer.  Asked exactly that by Eric Stephens of The Athletic, the veteran tried to pour cold water on that idea:

No. I want to win in Anaheim. I’ve been here and I’m happy to be here.

It wasn’t that long ago that the 28-year-old was viewed as one of the top goalies in the league but Gibson has had his struggles over the past few seasons.  Over the last three years, his save percentage has been either .903 or .904, marks that were below the NHL average.  He struggled mightily over the final three months of the season, posting a save percentage of just .876 as the Ducks went from being in the playoff mix to missing the postseason by 21 points.

Anaheim has missed the playoffs for the last four years and they haven’t made it past the first round since 2017 and there’s a good chance those streaks are extended next season following the exodus of several key veterans including defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson, winger Rickard Rakell, and long-time captain Ryan Getzlaf.

However, there is a young nucleus in place headlined by centers Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish, winger Troy Terry, and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.  They will be able to add to that this summer with a pair of selections in the first round including the tenth-overall pick while they enter the offseason with over $39MM in cap space, per CapFriendly.  Brighter days should be on the horizon soon and it appears Gibson wants to still be around at that time:

When I signed my extension in Anaheim however many years ago, I said I’d be honored to play in the same city and be a part of the same organization my whole career. I still have all my intentions on doing that.

Gibson has five years remaining on his contract with a $6.4MM cap hit so if the Ducks are willing to keep him around that long, he won’t be leaving Anaheim for quite a while.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Pavol Regenda

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June 1: The Ducks have officially announced the contract, confirming the details reported yesterday.

May 31: The Anaheim Ducks have added to their young pool of talent, signing UFA forward Pavol Regenda to a two-year, two-way contract (link). The deal will pay Regenda $750K in the NHL in 2022-23, moving up to $775K in 2023-24, and $80K in the AHL both years, but does include bonuses. Overall, the contract carries an $855K salary cap hit and an $925K AAV for Anaheim. The 22-year-old Regenda had been undrafted in the NHL, but has impressed in his time playing in native Slovakia and representing his country, most recently at the IIHF World Championships this spring.

Though not much of a heralded name in NHL prospects circles, Regenda has proven his worth, making this an intriguing signing for the Ducks. Throughout his career, Regenda has performed at every level and role he has been placed in. The 6’3, 210 pound forward has spent the past two seasons playing with Dukla Michalovce in Slovakia, recording 11 goals and 14 assists in 50 games in 2020-21, taking a step forward and putting up an impressive 15 goals and 24 assists in 43 games this season. Internationally, he has represented Slovakia on a number of occasions, including at this year’s IIHF World Championships and the Olympics, where he was given a more prominent role, and did not disappoint. After a four point performance in seven games at the Olympics, Regenda posted six points, including five goals, in eight games at the World Championships.

Despite being undrafted, bringing in a player like Regenda is a smart move for the Ducks, who already boast one of the NHL’s best crop of young players and prospects. Of course it’s possible Regenda may not work out, however his ability to produce every step of the way so far, and being just 22 years of age, is a perfect recipe for a diamond in the rough. On a two-way contract with plenty of bonus potential, as well as a transitioning Anaheim roster, Regenda should have an opportunity to earn playing time with Anaheim this upcoming season, though it’s likely he will see plenty of time with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL, where he can learn the North American style and continue his development.

Offseason Checklist: Anaheim Ducks

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those who were eliminated early in the postseason.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Anaheim.

The Ducks got off to a good start this season which had them in the thick of the playoff race for most of the year before slowing down late in the year which helped lead to a significant sale at the trade deadline.  GM Pat Verbeek now has a largely clean slate to work with as he enters his first summer at the helm but has some work to do.

Leverage Cap Space

At the moment, Anaheim has over $39MM in cap space with their most prominent restricted free agents being forwards Sonny Milano, Isac Lundestrom, and Sam Steel.  They’re all capable young players but none of them are going to break the bank and significantly cut into that spending room.  If Verbeek has the green light to go to the $82.5MM Upper Limit, he could be a big player in the summer spending around the league.

The big question is what is the best way to spend that money?  They could try to go for the quick fix and look to add several impact veterans which would help replace the exodus of veterans at the trade deadline.  At a time when many teams will have to show restraint in free agency, the Ducks could splurge.  That said, with what’s coming down the pipeline a year from now (more on that shortly), is that the best route for them to take?  And is the rebuild ready to be over or does more work need to be done?  If the answer is the latter, spending big now makes less sense.

If they’re not ready to spend big just yet, then leveraging that cap space in trade talks might be the better way for Anaheim to go.  They should be able to get some future assets in exchange for acquiring an above-market contract with the approach that Arizona has taken recently.  Those contracts will often be shorter in length compared to what they’d be handing out to free agents in July which would preserve their flexibility when their young core is closer to being ready to try to contend.  Retaining salary in a trade (or being a third-party facilitator) to add extra assets is another option as well.  One way or the other, Verbeek will need to take advantage of the opportunity he has with the scarcity of cap space around the league.

Determine Gibson’s Future

Few players have been with the Ducks as long as John Gibson has.  Along the way, the 28-year-old has seen his fair share of ups and downs, both in terms of Anaheim’s performance and his own.  Back at training camp, however, he voiced his frustration with the team shifting towards a rebuild, indicating he was tired of losing.  That has resulted in plenty of speculation about his future with the team.

This isn’t a situation where Gibson is on an expiring contract and a decision of either extend or trade needs to happen.  With five years left on his deal, they’re not going to be in that situation anytime soon.  But with Gibson’s discontentment about where Anaheim has been from a competitive standpoint, they will have to consider whether or not to move him, especially if Verbeek intends to extend the rebuild for another year or two.  Keeping a player who is clearly going to be frustrated with that situation isn’t ideal.

That said, it’s not as if his trade market is particularly strong.  His .904 SV% was below the NHL average this season while a 3.19 GAA isn’t overly impressive either.  Part of that is playing behind a team that had a lot of inexperienced players but that’s only part of it; Gibson wasn’t particularly sharp as well.  For perspective, his save percentage has hovered around that mark for the last three seasons.  A netminder with those numbers that has another half of a decade left on his contract at a $6.4MM AAV isn’t going to carry a lot of trade value.  In general, starting goalies don’t carry great value in the first place but certainly, ones that have underachieved as Gibson has aren’t going to have a lot of suitors.

Are they better selling low and taking a run at a replacement goalie in free agency to partner with Anthony Stolarz next season or do they hold onto one of their longest-tenured players even with him being unhappy about rebuilding?  Neither scenario is great but it’s something that will need to be looked at this summer.

Extension Talks

Right now, cap space is plentiful but that is going to change next summer when three of their top young players are all in need of new contracts.

Troy Terry had a breakout year, leading the Ducks in scoring with 37 goals and 30 assists in 75 games after putting up just 48 points in his first 129 career contests.  The low output led to a bridge contract which he has clearly outperformed already.  Since he’s on his second contract already, the 24-year-old will be arbitration-eligible next summer where he’ll be two years away from UFA eligibility and anything close to a repeat season would push his asking price into the $7MM or more range on a long-term deal while giving him a strong arbitration case if got that far.  If Verbeek is convinced that Terry’s production wasn’t a one-off but rather a sign of things to come, it would make sense for him to try to work out an extension now.

Meanwhile, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale will be in the final year of their entry-level deals next season and are also extension-eligible in mid-July.  Both players will have five years of team control left next summer and won’t be able to file for arbitration.  Zegras didn’t look out of place as their top center last season and with Ryan Getzlaf gone, he will be carrying a bigger workload as well which could result in a jump from the 61 points he had this season.  Drysdale, meanwhile, averaged nearly 20 minutes per game in his first NHL campaign while chipping in with 32 points, numbers that should only go up in 2022-23.  Many teams often try to work out an early extension over running the risk of an extended negotiation the following summer and Verbeek will certainly want to do that here.

Getting these extensions worked out early would give the Ducks a much better overview of what their salary cap picture will look like in 2023 and beyond.  Three long-term contracts will take a big chunk out of their spending room but if the two sides are too far apart in negotiations to the point where a shorter-term deal makes sense (more for Drysdale and Zegras than Terry), that would then open up some extra spending room for a couple of years.  The sooner they know what they have to work with, the better.

Coaching Decisions

Verbeek opted to pick up the team option on Dallas Eakins’ deal, ensuring he’ll return for his fourth season behind Anaheim’s bench.  But teams often don’t like their head coaches heading into ‘lame-duck’ situations so this might not be desirable for the team.  In those instances, a one-year or two-year extension could be on the table, one that takes away any short-term uncertainty but also doesn’t carry a significant commitment if things go sideways and Verbeek decides he wants to make a change.

There is also some work to do at the AHL level as a full coaching staff is required for the second straight summer.  Joel Bouchard along with assistants Daniel Jacob and Max Talbot were somewhat surprisingly let go after their first season following San Diego being eliminated in the play-in round for the playoffs.  AHL coaching staffs don’t have to be in place at the start of free agency but if they want to try to go after some free agents that are ticketed for the Gulls, it would be useful for them to have their staff in place by then to avoid any uncertainty as those free agents will likely want to know who is coaching before they sign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Ducks Prospect Lucas Elvenes Signs In Sweden

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May 24: The contract for Elvenes in Sweden has officially been announced, noting that it is for two years.

May 11: While it has taken a few months longer than he originally planned, Ducks prospect winger Lucas Elvenes is expected to return to the SHL and sign with HV71, reports SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, who adds that several other teams in Sweden’s top league also were showing interest in him.

Back in January, the 22-year-old worked out an agreement to mutually terminate his contract with Vegas with an eye on him going back to play in his native Sweden (and quite possibly the Olympics).  But to get to that point, he had to clear unconditional waivers first.  He didn’t.

Instead, Elvenes became just the second-ever player to be claimed from those waivers as Anaheim picked him up with an eye on bolstering their farm team.  He did just that as he collected 33 points in 43 games with San Diego, a nice improvement on the 10 in 20 contests he had with Henderson.  However, it wasn’t enough to earn an opportunity to suit up with Anaheim.

Now that his entry-level contract is set to expire in July, Elvenes now has the chance to go back overseas without any restriction and he appears to be set to do so.  The Ducks can retain his NHL rights by issuing him a qualifying offer and there’s little reason for them not to do that as they’d be able to hold onto his rights through the 2026-27 season in case he decides to try playing in North America again down the road.

Anaheim Ducks Fire Joel Bouchard

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7:45 PM: The team has confirmed the departures of Bouchard, Talbot, and Jacob while also announcing that assistant coach Geoff Ward has left the team for personal reasons.  Ward just completed his first season with Anaheim after spending the previous three years in Calgary as both an assistant coach and later their head coach.

5:08 PM: While the new Anaheim Ducks front office has chosen to stick with the head coach of their NHL team, the same cannot be said of the coach of their AHL affiliate. According to RDS’s Eric Leblanc and TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, the Ducks have parted ways with San Diego Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard, as well as his assistants Max Talbot and Daniel Jacob.

The Gulls were not a great team this year. They did make the playoffs, but they bowed out in the first round, losing in two games to the Ontario Reign, and only managed a 28-33-7 record. So, looking at it from a wins and losses perspective, this move is not a surprising one. But looking at the overall picture of Joel Bouchard’s coaching career makes this move a bit more unexpected. Bouchard just last season was viewed as a name on the rise, and we even speculated that he may have joined the Ducks organization with the idea that he could see a promotion to being the Ducks head coach, if Eakins had been fired mid-season. But that possibility never materialized, as Eakins’ Ducks played well enough for him to retain his post, and Bouchard’s Gulls tenure never quite got off the ground.

Fortunately for Bouchard, though, the sterling resume that made him a promising coaching prospect just a year ago remains largely intact. He is still the coach that became one of the top bench bosses in the QMJHL, and his combined 160-80-32 record with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada is proof of that. So while his tenure running the Gulls was not nearly as impressive, this news is unlikely to be a massive setback for a coach undoubtedly chasing one of the highly-coveted 32 NHL head coaching jobs.

2022 Calder Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL has continued to release the finalists for their major regular season awards, this time giving us the top Calder Trophy candidates. This award is given to the top first-year player in the league and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

The finalists are Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings, Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks, and Michael Bunting of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Seider, 21, was an absolute workhorse for the Red Wings from the moment he hit the ice this season, playing as a true rookie by making his debut and playing in all 82 games. The sixth-overall pick from 2019 appears to be a future superstar, with the ability to create positive effects in basically every facet of the game. He’s big–6’4″ 203lbs–fast, skilled, and confident, immediately grabbing hold of the Detroit blue line as if it had belonged to him for years. With 50 points, he tied Cale Makar for the second-highest scoring rookie season from a defenseman since 1993 (Quinn Hughes is first with 53). Adding in 151 hits, 161 blocks, and nearly two minutes of short-handed time every night shows just how well-rounded the young defender is.

Zegras, 21, is arguably the most exciting and highlight-worthy young player in the game, routinely doing things that have rarely been seen before. While he did play in 24 games last season, he retained his rookie eligibility and showed what he could do over a full year, potting 23 goals and 61 points in 75 games. The Ducks forward is the centerpiece of the next wave in Anaheim and will likely only get better as he matures in the center ice position. There’s no doubt that Zegras can do it all offensively, and his appearance at the NHL All-Star festivities even without being selected to play in the game show just how high his star will rise.

Bunting, 26, is a much different story than the other two. There was no early stardom bestowed on the 2014 fourth-round pick, as he toiled away in the Arizona Coyotes minor league system. It was after a 21-game showing at the end of the 2020-21 season that he caught the eye of the Maple Leafs, who signed him as a Group VI unrestricted free agent and proceeded to put him on a line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Bunting’s agitating, in-your-face style fit perfectly with the two offensive juggernauts, and it resulted in 23 goals and 63 points for the Toronto rookie. Bunting led the rookie scoring race by two points over Zegras (in four more games) but also has more than five years on his first-year counterpart.

Montreal Canadiens Win 2022 NHL Draft Lottery

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Beginning this season, the full effect of the changes to the draft lottery rules announced last year are in place. Starting this year, teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots if they’re selected, meaning teams originally set at picks 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 cannot move up all the way to the first overall pick. A win for one of these teams in the first draft lottery secures the pick for the team that finished last.

The team with the best odds coming in will win the draft lottery for the second straight year, though. The Montreal Canadiens will pick first overall in their own building, the first time such an occurrence has happened since 1985 when the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Wendel Clark at Maple Leaf Gardens. The New Jersey Devils moved up from fifth overall to second overall, bumping down the Arizona Coyotes, Seattle Kraken, and Philadelphia Flyers down one spot each.

The order for the top 16 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft is as follows:

  1. Montreal Canadiens
  2. New Jersey Devils
  3. Arizona Coyotes
  4. Seattle Kraken
  5. Philadelphia Flyers
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago Blackhawks)
  7. Ottawa Senators
  8. Detroit Red Wings
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. San Jose Sharks
  12. Columbus Blue Jackets
  13. New York Islanders
  14. Winnipeg Jets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Buffalo Sabres (via Vegas Golden Knights)

While Shane Wright is still the consensus no. 1 overall selection across public draft boards (and NHL Central Scouting), there’s been recent noise about players like Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley potentially challenging him for first overall. That’s an upset unlikely to happen, though, as Wright had a terrific second half of the 2021-22 campaign, finishing with 32 goals, 62 assists, and 94 points in 63 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He also has 10 points in eight playoff games at the time of writing. While teams will draft him for his elite playmaking ability, he’s got an underrated shot when he chooses to use it as well. Standout Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, Czech defenseman David Jiricek, Canadian forward Matthew Savoie, and Finnish forward Joakim Kemell are also names to watch for near the top of the draft board.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Calle Clang

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After acquiring his rights at the deadline, the Anaheim Ducks have signed Calle Clang to a three-year entry-level contract. The young netminder spent this year with Rogle of the Swedish Hockey League, where he’ll likely return next season.

Clang, 19, was part of the return for Rickard Rakell from the Pittsburgh Penguins, who drafted him 77th overall in 2020. The 6’2″ netminder was excellent in his first real taste of SHL action, posting a .914 save percentage in the regular season and helping Rogle win a Champions League title by going 5-1. He’s also been at each of the last two World Junior tournaments, though he has still yet to see a minute of action at the event. Still, he certainly should be in the mix for the rescheduled tournament this summer, and now has his NHL future locked up with Anaheim as well.

Another Swedish netminder who plays deep in his crease, Clang has all the measurables and upside to become a legitimate NHL option down the road. While that’s still a way off, it could raise some interesting questions for the Anaheim organization.

The team already has John Gibson in place and signed through 2026-27 and Lukas Dostal as its presumptive goaltender of the future. With high hopes for Clang, things could get interesting for the new front office led by Pat Verbeek in the coming years. It’s the fact that they targeted a goaltending prospect at all that could raise eyebrows, especially given the lottery ticket options they already have in Olle Eriksson Ek and Roman Durny. Both of those prospects are scheduled for restricted free agency, however, with Durny especially a potential non-tender candidate after missing nearly the entire season with a groin injury.

Regardless of what comes down the road, getting Clang signed was obviously a priority for this administration, as they held his rights until January 2024. As he was selected outside of the first round and is still signed for Rogle next season, he’ll have to be returned to Sweden unless he somehow makes the Ducks roster out of camp.

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