Ducks’ Frank Vatrano To Miss Six Weeks
The Anaheim Ducks provided an injury update mid-game, as Frank Vatrano will miss approximately six weeks. The forward has suffered a shoulder fracture which occurred on Saturday against Los Angeles. Vatrano was listed as out two days ago, with uncertainty on how long he would be absent, so today’s news is perhaps worse than anticipated.
Based on the timeline, Vatrano will miss all of January and could be in line to return sometime before mid-February. A major story to start the season, Anaheim has slipped of late, but still hold onto the third spot in the Pacific Division. The 31-year-old has just six points in 38 games on the season, a major step backward from his output over the past three seasons as a Duck, including a 37-goal campaign in 2023-24.
With the emergence of young stars such as Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, the veteran’s role has dropped under Head Coach Joel Quenneville, mostly a third line deployment. The injury is a tough blow for Vatrano as he’s sought to find his game under the new regime, in what is year one of his three year contract extension, finally on an imposing team, no less. However, there should be ample time to get healthy and provide leadership for the group as they could end their seven-year playoff drought, even if it does not show on the score sheet for the Massachusetts native.
Vatrano did make a mark in the physical game. He has 67 hits this season, second-most on the Ducks’ offense behind Ross Johnston (111). He also ranks second on the offense with 24 blocked shots. Those will be hard impacts to replace – though Anaheim could have a perfect fit in extra forward Jansen Harkins. Harkins has 55 hits in just 17 games this season, making him the only Duck with a higher hits-per-game average than Johnston or Vatrano. He also has 12 blocked shots – already half of Vatrano’s total.
Harkins will take on the fourth-line center role with Vatrano on the mend. The extended injury could also provide a chance to test strong minor-leaguers like Tim Washe or Sasha Pastujov.
Pro Hockey Rumor’s Gabriel Foley contributed to this article.
Ducks’ Frank Vatrano, Radko Gudas Out On Monday
The Anaheim Ducks will be without players in Monday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Forward Frank Vatrano will miss the game with an upper-body injury while defenseman and captain Radko Gudas will be forced out by an illness head coach Joel Quenneville told Derek Lee of The Hockey News. Quennville added that the team did not know quite how long Vatrano would need to miss.
Vatrano and Gudas both serve important, physical roles on the Ducks. Gudas leads the defense in hits (94) while Vatrano ranks second on the offense (67) behind Ross Johnston (111). Vatrno also ranks second to Johnston in penalty minutes on the Ducks. He has stepped into a pest role this season and was recently fined by the NHL Department of Player Safety for an unsportsmanlike conduct against Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson. Vatrano has six points in 38 games to back his nasty style, while Gudas has eight points in 29 games.
Anaheim will now face injury challenges on the heels of a recent losing skid. The Ducks have lost five of their last eight games, including a 6-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Jansen Harkins is set to take over fourth-line center duties in Vatrano’s absence. He has two goals, 11 shot blocks, and 51 hits in 16 games this season. Harkins is the only Duck with a higher hits-per-game average than Johnston or Vatrano, which should make his adjustment to Vatrano’s role a bit smoother. Ian Moore will step in for Gudas. Moore has five points and 47 shot blocks in 24 games this season. One more game will officially cement this season as his rookie year in the NHL.
Leo Carlsson Returns From Lower-Body Injury
- In a positive update for the Anaheim Ducks, center Leo Carlsson‘s lower-body injury from earlier in the week will only cost him one game. In an article this morning, Derek Lee of The Hockey News confirmed that Carlsson would return to the lineup tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. Aside from an external addition, there truly couldn’t be better news for the Ducks, who are tied for the lead in the Pacific Division after several difficult seasons. Carlsson is leading that effort, scoring 17 goals and 41 points in 34 games as Anaheim’s leading scorer.
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Morning Notes: Carrier, Quinn, Johnston
The Carolina Hurricanes were without a depth winger on Tuesday night. William Carrier missed the game due to illness, pushing the team to ice 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Joel Nystrom stepping back into the lineup. This marked Carrier’s seventh absence of the season, after facing a lower-body injury earlier in the season.
Carrier has continued to serve a depth role when healthy. He has three goals, seven points, and a plus-one in 29 games this season – putting him on pace for 18 points on the full year if he plays in the rest of Carolina’s outings. The 31 year old also leads the Hurricanes offense in hits-per-game with 58 hits giving him a per-game average of two hits. He will return to a fourth-line role when back to full health.
Other notes from around the league:
- New York Rangers assistant coach David Quinn also missed his team’s Tuesday night game due to an illness. Head coach Mike Sullivan said that Quinn has been facing a flu that is going around the team and needded a night off, despite trying to fight through the bug per New York Post’s Mollie Walker. He should be back on the bench once New York returns from the holiday break.
- Anaheim Ducks forward Ross Johnston was fined $2,864.58 by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday for roughing Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye. Johnston chased down and sucker punched Kartye during a scrum in front of the net during the two sides’ Monday matchup. Johnston received a two-minute minor penalty and a game misconduct. Kartye also received a misconduct. Despite the incident, Anaheim won’t have to readjust their lineup, though Johnston’s holiday budget may be shaped a bit differently.
Ducks’ Leo Carlsson Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury
The Anaheim Ducks will be without a top forward in Monday’s match against the Seattle Kraken. Star center Leo Carlsson has been announced as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, head coach Joel Quenneville told Derek Lee of The Hockey News. He is expected to return in Anaheim’s first game back from the NHL’s Christmas break – a December 27th matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.
It isn’t clear when or how Carlsson sustained his injury. He has been leaned on heavily over Anaheim’s recent stretch, appearing in at least 20 minutes of ice time in four of his 11 games this month, including three games north of 22 minutes. That’s a heavy load for a 20-year-old pro and it appears it’s beginning to get to Carlsson. He has gone without any scoring in his last three games, after starting the month with four goals and seven points in eight games. It’s tied for the longest scoring drought of Carlsson’s season alongside a dry spell in November.
The Ducks will use a soft matchup against the Kraken, and an upcoming four days off, as a chance to give Carlsson a bit of a break. His absence is expected to be precautionary, more than anything, per Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune. The Ducks will promote Mikael Granlund to the top-line in Carlsson’s absence. Granlund, who has five points in his last three games, is expected to assume top-center duties while Troy Terry moves to the top right-wing slot.
Carlsson leads the Ducks in scoring with a staggering 41 points in 36 games this season, third-most of any player under the age of 21 in the NHL, behind Macklin Celebrini (54) and Connor Bedard (44). Even without their emerging franchise focal piece, Anaheim should be in good shape for Monday night. They got back on the right side of the scoresheet on Saturday, toppling the Columbus Blue Jackets to bring their record to 6-4-1 in December. Anaheim has been slightly outscored in that span – by a combined score of 36-to-40 – but have averaged 3.5 goals-per-game over their last four games.
With an improved performance on defense, and continued hot play in more minutes from Granlund, Anaheim should be in for a strong game against a Seattle club that’s gone 1-4-0 in their last five games and ranks dead-last in goals scored this season.
Snapshots: Grzelcyk, Vatrano, Liljegren
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was fined $2,604.17 by the NHL Department of Player Safety for cross-checking Ottawa Senators’ center Tim Stutzle on Saturday. It is the maximum allowable fine under the CBA for this infraction. Grzelcyk cross-checked Stutzle in the face during a scrum in front of the net and was awarded a double-minor penalty. He will avoid suspension for the incident, allowing him to stick in a true utility role for the Blackhawks. Grzelcyk has averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in his last five games, far above the 16 minutes he’s averaged across the full season. He’s a veteran two-way defender with six points, all assists, and a plus-three in 35 games this season.
Other quick notes from around the league:
- Anaheim Ducks forward Frank Vatrano was also fined $5,000 by the NHL DPS for unsportsmanlike conduct against Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson. Vatrano ragdolled Robertson after a shoving match in front of the net turned into a scrum on the boards. He has 34 penalty minutes in 35 games this season, to go with only five points and a minus-11. This news will keep Vatrano in a daily, depth role for the Ducks.
- The San Jose Sharks could be without defenseman Timothy Liljegren when they face the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. Liljegren was designated as day-to-day and doubtful for Tuesday due to an upper-body injury, per Curtis Pashelka of Mercury News. Liljegren has averaged top-line minutes over in 28 games this season, though he only has four assists and a minus-10 on the year. Still, the 26 year old has stepped into an important, veteran role on a young Sharks lineup. He’ll be tough to replace, but rookie defender Sam Dickinson and depth defender Vincent Iorio could be the one to benefit from the need for a bigger presence.
Ducks Activate Petr Mrazek, Reassign Ville Husso
The Ducks announced they’ve activated goaltender Petr Mrázek from injured reserve. Fellow netminder Ville Husso was returned to AHL San Diego in the corresponding move.
Anaheim now has its season-opening goalie tandem intact after injuries affected both Mrázek and Lukáš Dostál over the past few weeks. Mrázek landed on IR not too long after Dostál did, sustaining a lower-body injury during the third period of a loss to the Blackhawks on Nov. 30.
After a nine-game absence, he’ll be available to back up Dostál for tomorrow’s game against the Stars. Before his injury, it was shaping up to be a forgettable season for the veteran netminder. In seven starts, he’d put up a 3-3-0 record with a .876 SV% and 3.69 GAA, on track for career lows in both.
Acquired from the Red Wings in the John Gibson deal, there was an argument to be made that the high-priced Mrázek should end up on waivers when he was due to return rather than return Husso to the minors. The 30-year-old is an experienced third-string option and, while his numbers weren’t all that much better than Mrázek’s, he represents an upgrade with a 5-3-1 record, .884 SV%, and 3.25 GAA in nine appearances. He’s posted a -0.3 GSAx compared to Mrázek’s -1.2, per MoneyPuck.
Nonetheless, it’s Husso going back down to completely negate the risk of losing goalie depth on waivers. Anaheim signed him to a two-year, $4.4MM contract extension in June despite fully intending on using him as their No. 3, presumably with the primary objective of deterring waiver claims. Their $1.05MM cap penalty this season for burying him in the minors is inconsequential for a team with now over $20MM in accumulated cap space.
Before being summoned in Dostál’s absence, Husso had a .908 SV%, 2.49 GAA, three shutouts, and a 6-4-3 record in 13 games for San Diego.
Ducks Activate Lukas Dostal From Injured Reserve
The Ducks have their starting netminder back in play. The team announced they’ve activated Lukáš Dostál from injured reserve and assigned Vyacheslav Buteyets to ECHL Tulsa in the corresponding move.
Dostál has missed the last nine games and three weeks with an upper-body injury, making today’s activation right on schedule. Before that, the 25-year-old was breaking into his own as a top-tier No. 1. In 17 appearances – all starts – he’s racked up an 11-5-1 record, .904 SV%, 2.81 GAA, and a .647 quality start percentage. Among goalies with at least 15 showings, his 0.592 GSAx/60 ranks 10th in the league, per MoneyPuck.
He has been invaluable for a Ducks team that’s still finding its way defensively, but has received plenty of scoring and quality goaltending to make them a relatively safe bet to end their seven-year playoff drought. So far, general manager Pat Verbeek’s decision to sign the 2018 third-rounder to a five-year, $32.5MM deal last summer looks more like a bargain than a fair bet, particularly after he amassed a .903 SV% and 14.3 GSAx in 54 appearances last season.
With Dostál out, it wasn’t backup Petr Mrázek holding things down. He’s also spent the better part of the last two weeks on injured reserve after leaving a Nov. 30 game against the Blackhawks with a lower-body injury. His return is expected to come closer to the holiday break.
That’s left Anaheim with experienced third-stringer Ville Husso and the rookie Buteyets as their tandem for the month of December. Husso has started six in a row and appeared in eight straight and has been a no-fuss option – exactly why Anaheim shelled out a pricey $2.2MM cap hit last offseason to keep him in the organization despite knowing he was ticketed for waivers and a minor-league role behind Dostál and Mrázek. He’ll now be relegated to backup duties behind Dostál until Mrázek returns.
There’s a legitimate argument that Anaheim might be better off keeping Husso and placing Mrázek on waivers once he’s healthy, though. Husso posted a serviceable .888 SV% and 3.16 GAA – enough to win five out of his eight decisions – while logging 1.2 goals saved above expected. The 33-year-old Mrázek’s numbers were down at a .876 SV% and 3.69 GAA in seven starts before his injury. On an expiring deal at a $4.25MM cap hit, he’s at virtually no risk of being claimed.
As for Buteyets, the 23-year-old was only up as an emergency option. His only action – his NHL debut – came after a mercy pull for Husso in a 7-0 loss to the Mammoth last week. He played the third period of that contest and allowed three goals on 13 shots for a .769 SV% and 9.00 GAA.
A 2022 sixth-round pick, Buteyets is in his second season in North America and has shown promise in the ECHL. After recording a .905 SV% in 36 games as Tulsa’s rookie starter last year, he’s upped that in a big way to a .924 mark in seven showings this season. His .858 SV% in five games at the AHL level for San Diego over the past two years, though, shows he needs some more runway in the low minors before he’s ready to make a significant push up Anaheim’s depth chart.
These Summer Signings Already Look Like Trouble
NHL free agency often results in some big misses, and this past summer was no exception. Even though we’re only two months into the regular season, it’s already clear that some of the contracts teams signed could turn out to be disasters, and for some, it was obvious from the start. Let’s take an early look at a few contracts that might not age well.
When Cody Ceci signed his four-year, $18MM contract on July 1, there was real sticker shock across the league. It was a significant overpay, destined to be a poor contract from day one.
Now, after 29 games, Ceci has one goal and five assists, averaging 17:39 of ice time per game while playing a third-pairing role at even strength. Ceci ranks 516th out of 554 players in the NHL in on-ice goal share for those who’ve played over 200 minutes at 5-on-5 at 34.5%.
The tricky part for Kings fans is that this was quite predictable from the moment the contract was signed, but there was a silver lining in the potential for Ceci to provide some physicality on the back end. However, that hasn’t been the case this year, as Ceci has managed just 15 hits in 29 games.
Ceci will turn 32 later this month, and there’s no upside to his game at this stage. With three years remaining on the deal after this season, the contract might even become a buyout candidate before it expires.
Trent Frederic signed one of the more surprising deals this past summer, agreeing to an eight-year extension worth $3.85MM per season after the Oilers picked him up from the Bruins at last year’s trade deadline. While the AAV is a bit high for what he offers, the length of the deal is also extraordinary.
Two months into the contract, it looks like a miss. Frederic has only two goals in 28 games this season and has been a burden to everyone he plays with.
The 27-year-old was never expected to live up to his contract fully, but in previous seasons, he showed some goal-scoring ability and contributed other intangible qualities. While he’s still tallying 68 hits this year, he’s doing so with virtually no other positive impact, making it hard to believe that he once produced 40 points in a season.
In 51 games as a member of the Oilers (29 regular-season games and 22 playoff games), Frederic has scored three goals and three assists. This, of course, dates back to last season, but it’s hard to understand that the Oilers saw what they saw at the end of last season and decided to sign him up for another eight years.
In fairness to the Oilers, Frederic was dealing with a high ankle sprain last season, which is notoriously tricky to play through and can have effects lasting a year – a silver lining if you’re Edmonton. Maybe Frederic is still battling a nagging injury and isn’t able to play as well as he did in some of his earlier seasons in Boston. Time will tell, but for the Oilers and their fans, Frederic’s recent play is concerning.
Next, there’s goaltender Ville Husso of the Ducks – or more often, their AHL affiliate in San Diego. Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek decided to keep Husso around last summer with a two-year, $4.4MM contract extension.
The deal didn’t make much sense at the time, as the Ducks already had Lukáš Dostál in the fold, and they signed Husso the day after trading John Gibson to the Red Wings for a package including Petr Mrázek. Some thought Husso might be the backup, and that Mrazek could be moved, but so far, he remains, and Husso has had limited NHL action.
Mrázek effectively moved into the backup spot ahead of Husso, which somewhat undermines the reason for re-signing the 30-year-old. Husso is a well-paid third-string goaltender for the Ducks, and there’s a reasonable case that he’s an average third-stringer at best.
In six NHL games this season, Husso has a 4-2-0 record with a 2.82 GAA and a .875 SV%. His numbers are noticeably better in the AHL with a 6-4-3 record, a 2.49 GAA, and a .908 SV%. However, he’s earning $2.2MM this season, a higher AAV than high-end veteran No. 2 options like Jake Allen, Jonathan Quick, and Scott Wedgewood.
Husso’s deal came shortly after a solid four-game audition in Anaheim at the end of last season, and it’s hard to imagine Verbeek was envisioning Husso as a tweener. The deal was likely made to provide Anaheim with a backup so they could trade Mrázek, but unfortunately, they couldn’t move him. Even if that was the case, Husso’s deal was a stretch, and while it isn’t overly restrictive to the salary cap, it’s a bad contract to hand out.
A couple of other deals that might not work out well are the Ryan Lindgren contract with the Kraken and Brian Dumoulin’s agreement with the Kings. Lindgren signed for four years and $18MM in the summer and has contributed nothing offensively (three assists in 25 games) for the Kraken and hasn’t been physical at all, with just 14 hits.
Lindgren was a massive drain on whoever he played with last season, giving Rangers defenseman Adam Fox all kinds of problems. However, it wasn’t that long ago that Lindgren was a top-pairing defenseman in New York, and if he ever got back to that level, he would be worth the money. But his play has been this way for over a year now, and it might just be the player he is now.
The Dumoulin deal in Los Angeles, like the Ceci one, was a head-scratcher. There was a time when Dumoulin was a legitimate top-pairing defenseman who had a great first pass, excellent gap control, and elite defensive awareness.
However, his body has slowed over time, and that terrific skating has become a liability, preventing him from getting space for his good breakout passes or closing gaps. Dumoulin has been fine this season for the Kings, but the deal has another two and a half years remaining and is unlikely to age well.
Ducks Activate Mikael Granlund From Injured Reserve
The Ducks have activated center Mikael Granlund from injured reserve, Derek Lee of The Hockey News reports. Goaltender Petr Mrázek has landed on IR in the corresponding move, retroactive to Nov. 30, Lee adds.
Granlund’s availability has been sparse since Anaheim landed him as one of the big fish of last summer’s free agent class on a three-year, $21MM contract. The 33-year-old has now missed 18 of the Ducks’ last 19 games due to a lower-body injury he initially sustained in an Oct. 25 game against the Lightning. He missed several games before initially attempting a return on Nov. 13 against the Red Wings. He had a successful outing, scoring a goal on a pair of shots in 15:45 of ice time, but reaggravated the injury and has sat out the last 10 as a result.
When dressed, though, Granlund has delivered on the hype. The 5’10” pivot was once viewed as one of the league’s better two-way forwards and routinely put up 60-point campaigns during the early days of his career with the Wild. A 2019 trade to the Predators largely derailed his consistent production aside from a resurgent 2021-22 season in which he put up 64 points. After a post-trade deadline stint with the Penguins in 2023, where he scored just once in 21 games, his stock was at an all-time low. Pittsburgh flipped the remaining two years of his five-year, $20MM deal to the Sharks that offseason in the Erik Karlsson trade in what was largely viewed as a cap dump.
Playing important minutes on a bottom-feeder Sharks team, Granlund resurrected his career. He rattled off 60 points in only 69 games, tying his career high of 0.87 points per game, and had 45 points in 52 games for San Jose the following season before they landed a first-round pick from the Stars to take on him and Cody Ceci as rentals.
Granlund finished the year with a 7-14–21 scoring line in 31 games for Dallas, an expected slight reduction as his minutes were reduced on an infinitely deeper Stars forward roster. Nonetheless, his stock, along with a weak cast of centers on the open market, left the cap-strapped Stars with no chance of retaining him. A virtual lock to hit the open market, he ended up cashing on a short-term deal with the highest AAV of his career from Anaheim.
The experiment has worked out well so far. With three goals and six assists, he’s clicked at a point per game through nine appearances and has averaged north of 17 minutes per game. His linemates have fluctuated, and he’s expected to have a new set of them tonight against the Capitals. He took line rushes this morning between Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome on Anaheim’s third line, per Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune.
Importantly, Granlund has been the best faceoff man for a Ducks team that’s winning 46.4% of its draws, 29th in the league. At 52.8%, Granlund is the only Ducks center above the water line this season. He’s also been a special-teams beast, leading the team with 3:40 of power-play ice time per game while also averaging 1:14 per game shorthanded.
Mrázek’s IR placement is solely procedural. He’s already been ruled out week-to-week with the apparent groin injury he sustained late in last weekend’s loss to the Blackhawks. With starter Lukáš Dostál sidelined for another one to two weeks, it’s third-stringer Ville Husso‘s net until he returns.