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Ducks Re-Sign Nikita Nesterenko To Two-Year Deal

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The Ducks announced yesterday that they’ve extended left winger Nikita Nesterenko on a two-year contract. He was set to become a restricted free agent but will stay with the Ducks, receiving a one-way commitment worth $775K in 2025-26 and $800K in 2026-27 in the process, according to PuckPedia. He’ll carry a cap hit of $787.5K as a result.

Nesterenko, 24 in September, was drafted by the Wild back in 2019. The sixth-rounder had his signing rights sent to Anaheim in the 2023 John Klingberg deadline trade. He signed his entry-level contract days later after completing his junior season at Boston College.

A two-way forward with good skating ability and historically able to shoulder minutes at center, Nesterenko has taken strides over his two full minor-league campaigns. He notched a 16-21–37 scoring line in 70 games for AHL San Diego in his first full professional season in 2023-24, good for 0.53 points per game. He upped his production to 0.68 points per game here in 2024-25, notching a 13-21–34 line in 50 games. He’s got a cumulative plus-seven rating as well while leveraging his 6’2″, 183-lb frame to play a decently physical game.

That well-rounded performance has led the Ducks to give Nesterenko multiple NHL call-ups over the past couple of years. After skating in nine games with Anaheim to finish off the 2022-23 season post-ELC, he suited up three times for them last year before making a career-high 20 NHL appearances here in 2024-25. He didn’t look out of place at all as a serviceable fourth-line winger, averaging 10:19 per game while scoring four goals and two assists with a minus-four rating. He averaged a shot on goal per game, finished at a likely unsustainable but still intriguing 20% clip, and posted reasonably decent possession numbers in defensively skewed deployment.

His new deal comes in considerably lower than the $917,831 qualifying offer he was eligible for, but that would have only been for one year with a two-way structure. He swaps out the higher one-year earning ceiling for added financial protection if he’s assigned to the minors.

Nesterenko will undoubtedly be in the conversation for an opening-night job, especially since he becomes waiver-eligible for the first time next season. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry in 2027 and will be owed a qualifying offer of $840K.

Is This The Year The Ducks Finally Trade John Gibson?

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For Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson, the trade rumors have persisted for years as the team has undergone a deep rebuild. Gibson was once among the NHL’s elite netminders but hasn’t been part of the upper echelon of goaltenders for the past half-decade despite being compensated like one. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native has two years left on his contract with a $6.4MM cap hit, which has long been an obstacle to finding Gibson a new home. Gibson’s name was brought up frequently before the trade deadline, but a weak market for the 31-year-old forced the Ducks to retain him, which begs the question: Will the Ducks trade Gibson this summer?

Anaheim has been out of the playoff picture since 2018 and has experienced a slow turnaround in its rebuild, which appears to be stuck. Gibson played well for the Ducks through some of the early years of the rebuild, which did little to help a team that just wasn’t very good. In recent years, Anaheim has been waiting for a second wave of its prospects to take the next step; however, that just hasn’t been the case, and general manager Pat Verbeek has started to make moves to insulate the younger players with veteran experience. Verbeek added defenseman Jacob Trouba last season and recently added forward Chris Kreider, who should provide veteran leadership to some of the younger Ducks.

These moves, coupled with Anaheim hoping to contend for a playoff spot, would lead one to believe that the Ducks keep Gibson in hopes he can turn back the clock to help the team reach the postseason once again after a seven-year absence. He was the better of their two goaltenders last season (albeit in limited action) and could be an essential piece for the team if they want to make some noise in the Western Conference.

Anaheim has what many believe is the heir apparent to Gibson in netminder Lukas Dostal, who is an RFA this summer and will be looking for a sizable raise on the $812.5K he made last season. Dostal certainly has a lot of upside and was good this season behind a weak Ducks team, registering a 14.3 goals saved above expected (as per Money Puck) and a 23-23-7 record. The issue with Dostal is that he hasn’t played meaningful hockey in the NHL, and there is no certainty he could hold up to the scrutiny if the Ducks find themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot late in the season. Gibson hasn’t played meaningful hockey in nearly a decade, but he has played some big games early in his career. If Anaheim opted to hang onto Gibson, they could let him play out his contract over the next two years before making a long-term decision on Dostal and whether he is the franchise’s goaltender of the future. Anaheim still has plenty of cap space with over $32MM available (as per Puck Pedia) and doesn’t have a financial reason to move him at this time. This could also afford them the ability to wait teams out and hope that someone panics and forces a trade that meets Anaheim’s asking price.

One other caveat with Gibson is that he has some trade protection in the form of a 10-team no-trade list, and he has some say over where he goes. Gibson has reportedly been willing to waive his no-trade in the past for specific teams, so it’s not likely to be a major hindrance, but it could come up if one of the teams interested in his services is on that no-trade list.

On the flip side of the coin, the goaltending market this summer is weak; there are no starters available in free agency and the netminders available on the trade market come with massive warts in their game and, in some cases (Philipp Grubauer), they might not even be NHL goaltenders anymore. Anaheim could likely place Gibson on the trade block, and he would instantly jump to the top of the list of available goaltenders, which could allow Anaheim to address other deficiencies in their roster while shedding Gibson’s cap hit.

Gibson has been linked in the past to the Carolina Hurricanes on several occasions, and they would hardly be the only suitor if Anaheim is serious about moving him. The Edmonton Oilers have also been rumored to have interest, and given the way goaltending has failed them in the two previous postseasons, it’s easy to understand why.

There would be no shortage of suitors given the state of the goaltending in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Columbus and Detroit, and there are not many options unless teams want to take a gamble on Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry, who is a two-time all-star but hasn’t looked like one in quite some time. Gibson comes with his question marks, but as far as goaltenders with a track record, he is the best option, even if that track record came in the last decade.

Anaheim has also faced this distraction within the team since entering a rebuild around 2020, and Gibson began voicing his frustrations with the loss shortly thereafter. He continued to voice his displeasure the following season as the team’s struggles continued, and eventually his play began to drop off behind a weak defence.  The fact that Gibson’s disillusionment goes back nearly half a decade, it’s fair to wonder if the Ducks would like to put a bad situation behind them, with the return in a trade being a secondary concern.

Lastly, Gibson was excellent in 29 games last season, and given the way the previous five years have gone as a whole, he might not ever post those types of numbers again. Gibson registered 15.3 goals saved above expected last season and won’t likely replicate that number again in Anaheim. This type of play is what has opened the door to potentially moving Gibson, and the time to sell might never be better for the Ducks and for Gibson, who would most certainly benefit from a fresh start in a new city.

Photo by Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Ducks Sign Lucas Pettersson To Entry-Level Contract

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2024 second-round draft pick Lucas Pettersson to a three-year, entry-level contract. Pettersson split his season between Sweden’s SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, and is expected to return to the SHL’s MoDo Hockey next year.

Pettersson had a quiet introduction to the pro flight. He earned a call-up to the SHL after netting eight points in eight games in Sweden’s U20 league – but struggled to find a clear groove in a fourth-line SHL role. Recognizing the struggles following numerous lineup changes, MoDo opted to send Pettersson to the HockeyAllsvenskan (HA) for the entirety of January. Having his feet under him launched Pettersson’s performance. He scored a hat trick in his first game on assignment, then proceeded to net 14 points in 12 HA games throughout January and early February.

Pettersson followed his hot streak in the HA with a quartet of international friendlies with Sweden’s U20 club. He scored three points in the four games, but didn’t stay lit when he returned to league play in mid-February. By the time he rediscovered his pace – with four points in three HA games to end February – MoDo opted to bring the dynamic forward back to the top flight.

When all was said and done, Pettersson ended his season with 19 points in 26 HA games, one assist in 29 SHL games, and eight points in eight J20 (U20) games. His 0.73 point-per-game scoring pace in the HA fell just behind 2025 NHL Draft stars Anton Frondell (0.86) and Victor Eklund (0.74) on the league’s U19 leaderboards. The trio posted the highest scoring paces since Noah Ostlund (0.70, 2022-23), Lucas Elvenes (0.95, 2017-18), and Elias Pettersson (0.95, 2016-17).

Lucas Pettersson earned high-end consideration for much of the 2024 draft season. He earned a second-round bid after posting 27 goals and 57 points in 44 J20 games, though some outlets had him ranked as high as an early-20s talent. He’s a flashy, agile forward with strong puck-skills and sharp offensive instinct. Those traits will need to become consistent and refined as he eyes a move to North America, but another year in the SHL could go far in preparing Pettersson to join an often Swede-friendly Ducks lineup.

Cutter Gauthier Earns All-Rookie Nod

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F Cutter Gauthier (Ducks) – Gauthier finished with the fewest vote totals for an All-Rookie nod with 79 out of a potential 187. Still, it was enough to earn third place among forwards. Despite being streaky, Gauthier finished fifth in scoring on the Ducks with 20 goals and 44 points in 82 games. Gauthier’s offensive output should improve with increased ice time during the 2025-26 season, as he finished his rookie campaign averaging slightly above 14 minutes a night.

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Ducks Acquire Chris Kreider From Rangers

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June 12: Both teams have made the trade official. The Ducks receive Kreider and their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104), which they sent to the Rangers in the Trouba deal, while the Rangers receive the Maple Leafs’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 89), which the Ducks had acquired in last season’s Ilya Lyubushkin trade.

June 11: While the deal is agreed to in principle, Anaheim is on Kreider’s no-trade list, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The trade will remain in limbo until the Rangers gain clarity on whether he’s willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate the deal.

June 10: The Ducks and Rangers are in “advanced discussions” on a trade that would send winger Chris Kreider to Anaheim, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports Tuesday. New York is slated to receive a prospect and a pick in return, according to Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA TODAY Sports. The Rangers are not retaining salary on Kreider, who is signed through 2026-27 at a $6.5MM cap hit, if the deal gets across the finish line. Center Carey Terrance will be the prospect heading to New York if the deal formalizes, which isn’t expected to happen until Wednesday morning at the earliest, Seravalli later added.

Kreider, 34, has spent the entirety of his 13-year NHL career in New York. They nabbed him 19th overall in the 2009 draft – a solid piece of work considering he’d be a unanimous top-10 choice in a redraft – and has hit the 20-goal mark in 10 of his 12 full seasons with the club.

The 6’3″, 230-lb lefty had been incredibly effective, especially in recent years, as the Rangers exited their accelerated retool during the late 2010s. While always a consistent scoring threat, he erupted for a career-high 52 snipes and 77 points in 81 games in the 2021-22 campaign, leading them in scoring as the Blueshirts had their first 50-win season in seven years and firmly restablished themselves as contenders atop the Eastern Conference.

Kreider hasn’t hit 50 again, nor did anyone expect him to. However, he’s still been incredibly effective as New York’s second-line left-winger behind Artemi Panarin, scoring 75 goals and 129 points in 161 regular-season games across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, the latter of which resulted in a Presidents’ Trophy for the Rangers. He’s also been downright dominant in the club’s last three playoff appearances, scoring 24 goals in 43 games in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 postseasons.

This season was an obviously disastrous campaign for the Rangers, who missed the playoffs entirely and saw a 29-point drop in the standings. That included Kreider, who had his most injury-plagued season since pre-pandemic. A back injury, a hand injury that may have resulted in offseason surgery, and what he later revealed to be a bout of vertigo limited him to 68 games. When healthy, his production cratered. While never a playmaker by any stretch, Kreider still had just eight assists in addition to his 22 goals, giving him 30 points on the year.

That worked out to 0.44 points per game, the worst rate of his career, excluding a 23-game trial in 2012-13. His 0.32 goals per game was far closer to his career median and just a few ticks south of his career average, though. Considering he shot at 14.5%, 0.6% worse than his 15.1% career average, there’s reasonable hope for him to get back to 30 goals again next season for Anaheim, especially if he gels well with a much younger group of centers in Orange County.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury, who had been shopping Kreider as far back as the Rangers’ early-season slide last November, wasn’t going to wait to see if the aging winger would rebound and be worth his cap hit next season. While tough to swallow for a lifelong Ranger, it’s an understandable viewpoint. With limited salary cap flexibility this summer to retool his roster and higher-paid players having no-movement clauses, Kreider, who only has a 15-team no-trade clause, was always the most likely candidate to be moved this offseason to free up considerable spending money.

It’s presumably not how Kreider, whose 326 career goals rank third in Rangers franchise history behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336), wanted his time in New York to end. It’s also an eerily familiar move. Former captain Jacob Trouba was made available for trade at the same time as Kreider and could now welcome his ex-teammate to Anaheim after the Ducks took him on, also with no retained money, mid-season.

It’s not yet clear where Kreider could fit into the Ducks’ left-wing depth chart, which includes Cutter Gauthier, former Rangers teammate Frank Vatrano, and now Trevor Zegras after the natural center was shifted away from the middle of the ice. Zegras is entering the final year of his contract and has been the subject of trade rumors for a few years now, while Vatrano is kicking off a three-year extension but has some experience playing the right side. If he shuffles over, that would make more room for Kreider to split top-six LW duties with the 21-year-old Gauthier, who’s coming off a 20-goal, 44-point rookie season.

The Rangers are at least slated to land a center prospect with moderate upside in Terrance. Anaheim selected the 20-year-old in the second round of the 2023 draft. He was the No. 10 prospect in their system, as opined by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, amid a strong season for OHL Erie, where he was promoted to captain and finished the year with a 20-19–39 scoring line in 45 games. His season ended in February after a hit into the boards sent him to the hospital, although he was discharged within 24 hours. He is under contract – Anaheim signed him to his entry-level deal in April. Otherwise, they would have lost his signing rights on June 1.

Image courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Kreider had waived his modified no-trade clause. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report the details of the draft pick swap.

Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner

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Many have speculated that the Ducks will be a major player in the Mitch Marner sweepstakes. The All-Star winger is nearly guaranteed to hit the open market on July 1, and Anaheim has the third-most cap space in the league early in the offseason, according to PuckPedia.

That flexibility, plus a mandate from ownership to contend for a playoff spot next season, means they could offer Marner the most lucrative seven-year offer of any club this summer. James Mirtle of The Athletic reports Monday they’re considering offering him an AAV that would push north of the $14MM mark, making him the league’s highest-paid player starting next season.

Whether Marner is considering teams that aren’t currently established playoff contenders remains to be seen. Still, it’s hard to imagine any team, aside from the Blue Jackets and their $40.4MM in cap space, being willing to enter that range. Even an offer matching, not exceeding, Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl’s league-high $14MM cap hit comes in well north of his projected market value of just a shade under $13MM, according to AFP Analytics.

There will naturally be sticker shock when it comes to many deals this summer, with an 8.5% increase in the salary cap’s Upper Limit from $88MM to $95.5MM. Draisaitl’s mega-extension, which costs 14.66% of the cap when it starts next season, would be equivalent to a $12.9MM AAV had it gone into effect last year.

Any conversation about Marner pushing into the $14MM tier per season will result in direct comparisons between him and Draisaitl, especially with the latter’s extension being signed under a year ago and kicking in at the same time Marner’s next deal will. That’s where things will get hairy for Anaheim regarding public perception of the contract, even if acquiring a dynamic offensive threat of Marner’s caliber is a crucial long-term step in helping them return to relevance.

Draisaitl is one year Marner’s senior and had a two-year head start on him in beginning his NHL career, but the former wasn’t immediately thrust into top-six minutes like Marner was. Even still, Draisaitl’s career points per game rate of 1.21 dwarfs that of Marner’s 1.13.

The discrepancy between the two increases when putting them on equal footing regarding sample size. Draisaitl’s points-per-game rate increases to 1.32 from the beginning of Marner’s career in 2016-17. Over the past three seasons, Draisaitl has operated at a 120-point pace per 82 games compared to Marner’s 102.

The soon-to-be-former Maple Leafs winger has historically been a far more valuable player defensively than Draisaitl, but that changed this season, at least in terms of public perception. Draisaitl came one place ahead of Marner in Selke Trophy voting after posting career-best possession numbers (58.8 CF%, 61.2 xGF%) at even strength. While playoff production has far less impact on contract value, Draisaitl is in a different tier, with a 1.49 career points per game rate in the postseason compared to Marner’s 0.9.

Combine all that with Draisaitl playing a more traditionally valuable position, and it’s hard to imagine many other teams willing to match a $14MM offer for Marner if the Ducks make it, even if they technically have the resources to do so. Suppose he enters July 1 open-minded about his next destination. That discrepancy between Anaheim’s offer and whatever the second-best one is for him financially could be enough to tip the scales in the Ducks’ favor.

Ducks Shouldn't Be Worried About Offer Sheets This Summer

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Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We start our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Ducks.

Key Restricted Free Agents

G Lukas Dostal – Dostal had been viewed as Anaheim’s goalie of the future for some time now. He rewarded the franchise’s faith in spades with a breakout 2024-25 campaign. Now entirely supplanting John Gibson as the team’s No. 1 option between the pipes, his numbers slipped a bit down the stretch but still managed a 23-23-7 record, a .903 SV%, a 3.10 GAA, and one shutout in a career-high 54 appearances behind one of the league’s worst defensive teams. He’s owed a qualifying offer of just $892.5K coming off a cheap partial two-way deal, but will land much more than that on his coming deal, especially with arbitration rights in his back pocket. A one-year bridge likely keeps Dostal in the $4MM range, but for a Ducks club with ample salary cap flexibility, general manager Pat Verbeek could award him something in the $5MM-$6MM range on a mid-term deal if they’re unprepared to go eight years.

F Mason McTavish – McTavish’s game has steadily improved since being drafted third overall in 2021, and this season was no different. While the 22-year-old was robbed of a full 82-game schedule due to a few here-and-there injuries, he still set career-highs with 22 goals, 30 assists, and 52 points in 76 appearances. Now a legitimate top-six center with still room to grow, he’ll significantly outpace the $874,125 qualifying offer he’s owed as he comes off his entry-level deal. A deal in the $4MM range on a shorter-term commitment seems apt if the Ducks are still uncertain about his ceiling. Still, with his linear development so far, he could earn a long-term deal approaching the $7MM mark to lock him in as Anaheim’s No. 2 center behind Leo Carlsson long-term.

F Isac Lundestrom – A first-round pick back in 2018, Lundestrom’s role hasn’t fluctuated much since establishing himself as a full-timer in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. His ice time has steadily decreased as the player they once thought could be a long-term, defensively responsible third-line pivot hasn’t produced the level of offense they’d like for that role. 2024-25 was Lundestrom’s worst offensive performance of his five-year run as a full-time NHLer at just 0.19 points per game (4-11–15 in 79 GP). That’s not to say he’s not valuable – he’s one of the Ducks’ top penalty killers, and his possession metrics this season were passable given his extended defensive zone deployment at 5-on-5. Still, he’s likely more of a high-end fourth-line option long-term than a third-line one. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him accept his $1.5MM qualifying offer as a result, or take a multi-year deal in that range annually to gain some added stability in Anaheim if he desires.

F Brett Leason – Claimed off waivers from the Capitals at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Leason capped off his third year in Anaheim with nine healthy scratches in 12 games. He was still serviceable in bottom-six minutes, scoring 17 points in 62 games with a minus-two rating in similarly heavy defensive deployment to Lundestrom. Still, he’s at risk of being non-tendered for the second consecutive year. Of course, he signed a one-year, $1.05MM contract on the first day of free agency to return to the Ducks despite not receiving a qualifying offer, but his willingness to do so again may be diminished after his lack of usage to end the campaign.

D Drew Helleson – Helleson, 23, somewhat surprisingly emerged as a roster fixture this year. He didn’t play anywhere close to a full schedule, suiting up 56 times, but remained on the Ducks’ roster for the balance of the season after being recalled from AHL San Diego in mid-November. The 6’3″, 214-lb righty did better than most would have expected given his limited minor-league success, posting 13 points and a plus-six rating in bottom-pairing minutes (16:21 ATOI). A 2019 second-round pick of the Avalanche who was acquired for Josh Manson in 2022, Helleson’s likely earned an opening-night job in the fall. He could even challenge Jacob Trouba for top-four minutes next year since the latter was a non-factor after his early-season acquisition from the Rangers.

Other RFAs: F Judd Caulfield, G Calle Clang, F Sam Colangelo, F Josh Lopina, F Jan Mysak, F Nikita Nesterenko, F Tim Washe

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Robby Fabbri – When healthy, Fabbri has been a decent secondary scorer throughout his nine-year NHL career. However, injuries have been a constant, and this year was no different. Knee surgery and a hand injury took away nearly half of his 2024-25 campaign, and he ended the year with an 8-8–16 scoring line in 44 contests. The 29-year-old has still hit at least 30 points twice in the last four years despite significant absences, which should help his case on the open market. With 2024 No. 3 overall pick Beckett Sennecke pushing for an opening-night job and the Ducks likely to be active in free agency, though, there may not be a fit for him on next year’s team. If they want to retain him, his injury concerns should make him a low-cost pickup around $1MM.

F Brock McGinn – From one injury-prone winger to another, McGinn’s season ended back in December due to ACL reconstruction. His recovery timeline may stretch into next year’s training camp, so his hope will likely be for a PTO opportunity somewhere, which could still be Anaheim, instead of searching for a guaranteed contract. Still, the defensive-minded winger has made just 50 appearances over the last two seasons combined with 11 points and a minus-four rating. They could still want to keep him in the fold with his over 500 games of experience, though, compared to some more unknown quantities in the system as a 13th or 14th forward.

D Oliver Kylington – Acquired at the deadline in what was effectively a three-team deal with the Avalanche and Islanders involving Brock Nelson, Kylington didn’t get much of an opportunity down the stretch in Anaheim. He averaged just 10:48 per game in six appearances, including his time in Colorado, where he spent most of the year in the press box with only 19 appearances to his name. The 28-year-old is now three years removed from his 31-point, +34 campaign with Calgary, and hopes of returning to those heights as a No. 2 left-shot option are slimmer than ever. He’s ticketed for a league-minimum or even two-way deal this summer, and it likely won’t be with the Ducks, who have plenty of young defenseman still to rotate/graduate into NHL minutes.

G Ville Husso – Husso began the season with the Red Wings, where he’d tumbled down to No. 3 on the depth chart and had cleared waivers in the final season of a three-year, $14.25MM contract. Anaheim, who had injuries to their AHL netminders and Gibson missing significant chunks of action, picked him up down the stretch to serve as a veteran backup option for Dostal. He did quite well in the few starts he received, posting a .925 SV% and 2.99 GAA in four appearances. While it’s a small sample size, that could go a long way toward earning Husso a chance at a No. 2 job next year on the open market instead of settling for a two-way deal and likely lengthy AHL assignments.

Other UFAs: F Justin Bailey, G Oscar Dansk, F Carson Meyer

Projected Cap Space

Few teams have more cap space than the Ducks this summer. They check in at $38.7MM, including $2.5MM worth of retention on the final season of Cam Fowler’s contract. A good amount of that will get eaten up by new deals for Dostal and McTavish, but they’ll still have over $25MM to spend after getting those deals done. As a result, expect them to be active on both the trade and free agent markets this summer as they aim to end their playoff drought at seven years.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images (Dostal) and Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images (Fabbri). Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.

Prospect Lucas Pettersson Signs With Brynas

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  • Ducks prospect Lucas Pettersson has signed a two-year deal with SHL Brynas, per a team release. The 19-year-old was an early second-round pick last June, going 35th overall after a strong showing in MoDo’s junior system.  This season, the center primarily played professionally, splitting time between the SHL with MoDo and Ostersunds of the second-tier Allsvenskan.  At their top level, Pettersson was limited to just one assist in 29 games while his team was demoted to the Allsvenskan for next season.  With Ostersunds, he fared much better with nine goals and ten assists in 26 contests.  By joining Brynas, Pettersson should be able to predominantly play at the SHL level next season, ideally in a more prominent role.

Offseason Checklist: Anaheim Ducks

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Anaheim.

After a rocky showing in 2023-24, the Ducks bounced back relatively well this year with a 21-point jump in the standings.  However, that still left them well short of a playoff spot and GM Pat Verbeek acted quickly, firing Greg Cronin and two assistant coaches while Joel Quenneville has taken over behind the bench.  Even with that big item checked off, Anaheim has a lot to accomplish this summer.

Make A Decision On Zegras

This was a topic in last year’s checklist and frankly, not a lot has changed since then.  Coming off an injury-riddled year that saw him struggle when he was healthy, Trevor Zegras was in all sorts of trade speculation last summer.  There were some more intensive talks at the draft but nothing got across the finish line, giving Zegras a chance to make a better second impression on Cronin and his staff.

Unfortunately, this season was largely more of the same.  He missed more than 20 games with a knee injury and potted 12 goals and 20 assists in the 57 games he played, only a small uptick in points-per-game compared to the year before.  For a player with two 60-plus-point seasons under his belt already, it’s fair to say this was another underwhelming year.

That means the trade speculation is likely to pick up once again in the near future.  Zegras now has just one year left on his bridge deal, one that carries a $5.75MM qualifying offer in 2026 when he’ll be a year away from UFA eligibility.  An early extension makes no sense for either side so Verbeek has two choices here, hold again and hope things will improve under Quenneville or pull the trigger on a trade over the coming months.

Of course, with the way the last two years have gone, Zegras isn’t exactly at peak trade value.  Teams will view him as more of a buy-low candidate and will likely structure their offers accordingly.  However, is Anaheim in a spot where a positive-value return that isn’t the best better than running the risk of him having another down year and seeing his value degrade further or even fall into non-tender or club-elected arbitration territory?  That’s what Verbeek will be looking to weigh over the next little while.

Bridge Or Long-Term Deals?

The Ducks have two of their intended future core players up for new deals this summer.  Armed with more than $38MM in cap space per PuckPedia, Verbeek is in a spot where he can choose which direction to take with them rather than having their cap situation dictate those plans.  That cap space largely insulates them from being a target for an offer sheet as well, given their easy ability to match.

The first is center Mason McTavish.  The 22-year-old was the third-overall pick in 2021 with the hopes that he could become their top center of the future.  (Leo Carlsson was picked a year later and now holds that particular distinction.)  Over his first three seasons, his development has largely been gradual but he did set career highs across the board this year and finished second on the team in scoring with 20 goals and 32 assists on a team that had an awful lot of trouble scoring.  Still just 22, McTavish is certainly tracking to be at least a core player even if he doesn’t wind up as the high-end number one center his draft status might have suggested.

Having said that, this could be a bit of a trickier negotiation.  With the year McTavish had, he wouldn’t want to sign a long-term deal on the basis of him being a 50-point player; he’s going to expect that there’s still more improvement on that front and will want to be paid accordingly.  Meanwhile, Verbeek might not want to pay that type of price tag until he sees more from McTavish.  He pushed for the bridge deal for Zegras and that decision looks particularly wise at the moment.  If it is a shorter-term agreement, it should check in around the $4MM mark.

Then there’s goaltender Lukas Dostal.  This was the year when the label of the goalie of the future changed to goalie of the present as he took over as the primary starter.  On the other hand, his overall numbers were still relatively pedestrian (3.10 GAA and a .903 SV%) but he was playing behind a relatively weak defensive group.  He’s two years away from UFA eligibility so it’s hard to see a two-year deal being the solution here even if it might be the safer way to go normally.

Verbeek’s options here are probably opt for a one-year contract if he needs to see more from Dostal or to pay him like a secondary-tier starter even though his career numbers might not warrant it just yet.  In that instance, deals like ones signed by Karel Vejmelka (five years, $4.75MM AAV), Joey Daccord (five years, $5MM AAV), and Mackenzie Blackwood (five years, $5.25MM AAV) look like the range for Dostal’s next price tag.

Find A Trade For Gibson

Another theme from last year’s column, not a lot has changed here either.  For years now, Gibson has been in trade speculation and while there have been times when it looked like one might be possible, it hasn’t happened yet.  But the environment might be more favorable for a move this time around.

For starters, Gibson quietly had a solid season.  His .911 SV% was his highest mark since 2018-19 while his 2.77 GAA was his best since 2017-18, numbers that were better than Dostal.  After putting up numbers that were below the NHL average for several years, this was a big step in the right direction and should help quell some concerns that he isn’t capable of playing at that level anymore.  That should open up a couple more potential trade avenues at least.

The contract is also more manageable.  Yes, his $6.4MM AAV is still on the high side (ranking 11th as things stand for next season) but there are only two years left on the contract.  It should be more palatable for Anaheim to hold back at least some money on that deal.  If they retained even 20% ($1.28MM), his revised cap hit would be $5.12MM which would be 21st league-wide.  That’s more the range he should be in and the Ducks wouldn’t have to eat a lot of dead money to get him there now.

Then there’s the free agent market.  Aside from Jake Allen, it’s a particularly weak class, making Gibson more enticing as a trade candidate.  If you’re looking for a short-term goalie upgrade, it might be more palatable to trade something for Gibson than commit to a likely lesser option on the open market.

Is this enough to make a trade likely?  Probably not, and it should be noted that there is a 10-team no-trade list to contend with as well.  But there’s a path to a suitable trade this offseason which hasn’t been the case too often.  And if it doesn’t happen, this could very well make another appearance on next spring’s checklist.

Add Some Firepower

Offense has been hard to come by for Anaheim lately.  This season, they were 30th in the league with just 217 goals.  That was actually an improvement on the previous year when they were also 30th but with only 203 tallies.  In 2022-23, they were 31st with 206 goals.  If you want to go back to the last time the Ducks were even in the top 20 league-wide in that department, it was the 2017-18 season.  If we change that to the last time they were in the top half of the league in goals, that came back in 2014-15.

Suffice it to say, this has been a long-standing issue for Anaheim and one that hasn’t really been addressed, even in spite of some decent additions in Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome in recent years.

If you’re in the glass-half-full category, there’s reason for optimism.  With so many young players in key roles, there’s hope that there will be some internal improvement from all of them which should give them a boost.  Playing for a more proven coach in Quenneville might also give them a bit of a lift.  But expecting that alone to be enough to get them closer to even being league average would likely be foolhardy.

Anaheim has had one of the more restrictive budgets in recent years with the team trying to spend much closer to the floor than the cap.  But last week, team owner Henry Samueli indicated that Verbeek won’t have to penny pinch as much as he did before.  That’s especially noteworthy with their favorable cap situation.

At this point, Verbeek shouldn’t be too picky when it comes to searching for potential offensive upgrades.  But after spending big on Alex Killorn as a culture-building pickup two years ago and striking out on his targets last summer, Anaheim needs to be a lot more successful in its recruitment class this time around and add some much-needed scoring help to this group.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images.

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