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Ducks Fire Greg Cronin

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The Ducks announced today they’ve relieved head coach Greg Cronin of his duties. He had one season remaining on his contract, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

General manager Pat Verbeek released a statement on his decision:

I want to personally thank Greg for his tireless work and dedication to the team. He is responsible in many ways for the improvement we’ve seen from our young core. However, after several weeks of careful evaluation, I concluded we needed a change in direction and a new voice. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make, but I felt it was necessary to continue our progress toward becoming a Stanley Cup contender that I know we can be.

Cronin spent the last two seasons behind the bench in Anaheim, his first stint as an NHL bench boss.  It was hardly his first time running a team, however, as the 61-year-old had head coaching experience at the NCAA level with Northeastern University and the AHL level with Colorado where he spent five seasons before the Ducks hired him in June 2023.  He also had previous experience on an NHL bench as an assistant with the Islanders and Maple Leafs.

His first season was particularly rough.  Anaheim managed a record of just 27-50-5 while being in the bottom three in goals scored while allowing the 30th-most goals in the NHL.  Beyond a career year from Frank Vatrano, many of their key players either underachieved or didn’t develop as planned, leading to some speculation that Anaheim might make a change after just one season.

That didn’t happen and things did go better for the Ducks this year.  They added 21 points compared to the previous season, putting them sixth in the Pacific Division.  Things improved on the goals allowed side as they were 22nd in that regard this year but once again, goal production was hard to come by as they once again ranked 30th overall although they did add 14 tallies compared to 2023-24.  Key young forwards like Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson took steps forward compared to their production a year ago while Cutter Gauthier finished strong.  Meanwhile, Jackson LaCombe became a top-pairing blueliner so there were certainly more positives from a development perspective but that wasn’t enough for Verbeek to retain Cronin.

While Verbeek references continuing progress toward being a Cup contender, there is a long way still to go for them to get there.  With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if he opts for another less experienced coach with an emphasis on player development or if he’ll look to more of a veteran option with an eye on trying to get back into the playoff picture quickly.  Anaheim becomes the first true head coach opening around the NHL although other teams will be conducting searches to see if there is a better fit behind the bench than the interim head coaches that finished the year in those roles.

Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

PHR’s Josh Erickson also contributed to this post.

Nesterenko And Colangelo Sent Down

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  • The Ducks have returned wingers Nikita Nesterenko and Sam Colangelo to AHL San Diego, per a team release. Nesterenko played in a career-best 20 games with Anaheim this season, potting four goals and two assists.  With the Gulls, he has 13 goals and 21 assists in 48 contests.  As for Colangelo, he had ten goals and two helpers in 32 NHL outings while he’s just shy of a point per game in the minors with 35 points in 38 contests.

Ducks Sign Konnor Smith To Entry-Level Deal

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The Ducks announced they’ve signed defenseman Konnor Smith to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2025-26 season. Smith will join the AHL San Diego on a tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Smith was set to be an unrestricted free agent on June 1 if he and Anaheim didn’t agree to terms on a deal. The Ducks brought him in as a fourth-round pick in 2023, selecting the 6’6″, 216-lb lefty from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He’s since been traded to the Owen Sound Attack and then the Brampton Steelheads. He won an OHL championship with the Petes back in 2023.

A pure shutdown defender, Smith will turn pro on a full-time basis next year after recording 26-44–70 in 219 OHL games with 229 PIMs and an even rating. This year was Smith’s best offensively by a wide margin. In 40 games with Owen Sound and Brampton, he posted 10-16–26 with a +14 rating. He’s got a heavy shot when he chooses to use it but continues to project as a box-out, stay-at-home rearguard in the pros.

The Ontario native made his pro debut last year on a tryout with San Diego after his OHL season ended, posting a goal and a minus-six rating in six games. The Ducks will be able to gauge how much his defensive game has improved with another short stint to end the year with the Gulls before presumably returning to San Diego in a regular role next year. Smith will remain on his ELC until 2028 and be a restricted free agent upon expiry.

Ducks Sign Tim Washe To Entry-Level Contract

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Fresh off a national championship, Western Michigan captain Tim Washe is headed to the Ducks on a one-year entry-level contract beginning immediately, the team announced. The undrafted free-agent center will immediately become a restricted free agent this summer. He’s expected to make his NHL debut in tomorrow’s penultimate regular-season game against the Wild, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports.

Washe, 23, was only eligible for a one-year contract because he turns 24 before Sep. 15. He’ll earn an extremely prorated salary figure for the final few days of the season before negotiating a standard one-way or two-way deal with Anaheim over the offseason.

The 6’3″, 216-lb pivot arrives in Anaheim after captaining the Broncos to their first Frozen Four appearance and national title in program history, defeating Boston University 6-2 in last weekend’s championship game. The fifth-year forward finished the season in second place on the team in scoring, erupting for a 16-22–38 line in 42 games. That’s more output than he had in his four previous seasons at WMU combined. The Detroit native only posted 12-24–36 in 129 NCAA games from 2020-21 through 2023-24.

That big of a breakout that late in a player’s development generally doesn’t bode well for their NHL ceiling, but he was dominant enough this season in a winning effort for multiple NHL teams to step up with offers. One of them was Minnesota, Russo relays, but the Wild were informed this morning that Washe opted not to sign with them.

Washe joins an Anaheim center pipeline that doesn’t have a ton of help coming after Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish solidified themselves as top-nine forwards over the last couple of seasons. While Washe quantifies as more of a young free agent pickup than a legitimate prospect add, there’s an opening for him to prove he can handle an NHL depth role heading into training camp next fall as a hardworking fourth-line piece, whether down the middle or on the wing.

Ducks Sign Ian Moore

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The Ducks have officially signed one of their defense prospects, announcing that they’ve inked defenseman Ian Moore to a two-year, entry-level contract.  The deal begins this season while financial terms were not disclosed.

The 23-year-old was a third-round pick by Anaheim in 2020, going 67th overall after playing at St. Mark’s at the high school level.  Moore then spent one season with USHL Chicago before beginning his college career at Harvard in 2021.

Moore spent four seasons with the Crimson with his best offensive showing coming in his sophomore year when he had 19 points in 34 games.  This season, he came up a bit short of that point total, notching three goals and 11 helpers in 32 contests before turning pro last month on a tryout deal with AHL San Diego.

Moore has done well with the Gulls, collecting a goal and four assists in nine games which has helped him officially secure this contract.  Speculatively, the concept of starting in the minors and then being converted to an NHL deal that begins this season was likely discussed last month when Moore first joined San Diego.  While it’s not a common route for prospects, Anaheim did this with Sam Colangelo last season, starting him with the Gulls and then converting his deal late.

With the signing, Moore will now report to Anaheim for their final three games and will join the team today for practice.  By burning a year early, he’ll become a restricted free agent in the 2026 offseason.

Canadiens, Ducks Discussed Potential Trevor Zegras Trade

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In many sports, trades that don’t occur can be just as captivating—if not more so—than those that do. A recent example of this involves the Montreal Canadiens, who were reportedly close to acquiring Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks during the 2024 NHL Draft, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his column 32 Thoughts.

Friedman writes in his column that he’s never received clarity on why the deal didn’t take place, but he believes it had to with Ivan Demidov falling to the Canadiens as the fifth overall pick. Friedman asserted that Montreal wasn’t offering their fifth overall pick for Zegras, but he filled their immediate need for a younger top-six forward.

Although it’s hard to say with certainty, it’s easy to think Zegras would have fit in nicely with Martin St. Louis’s system in Montreal. St. Louis has been regarded as an offense-first coach and is credited for allowing sniper Cole Caufield to blossom when he took over behind the bench in 2021-22.

Zegras isn’t as highly praised as Caufield for putting pucks in the net, but he has been known as a capable point-producer when healthy. He’s scored 67 goals and 185 points in 265 games with Anaheim, including back-to-back 60-point campaigns from 2021 to 2023.

Unfortunately, his ability to stay healthy has been an issue for the past few years. Since the 2023-24 campaign began, Zegras has appeared in 85 games for the Ducks, equating to 52.79% of potential contests. Furthermore, his defensive shortcomings haven’t meshed well with Greg Cronin’s system, leading to a flurry of trade rumors during that stretch.

Still, it could be a trade that the Canadiens revisit this off-season. It is widely recognized that Zegras, Caufield, and Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils share a close friendship that dates back to their time with the U.S. National Team Development Program. It would be an interesting storyline to see at least two of them reunited on the same team.

Depending on how their postseason run turns out, Zegras would be an interesting candidate to usurp Alex Newhook as the team’s second-line center. That would give Montreal a bona fide top-six, taking some pressure off their first line, who has carried them on their shoulders this season.

Ducks Sign Carey Terrance To Entry-Level Contract

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2023 second-round draft pick Carey Terrance to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2025-26 season. Terrance has spent this season captaining the OHL’s Erie Otters, who are about to take on the London Knights in the OHL Playoffs. Terrance is expected to participate in that series at some point, though he’s working his way back from a scary upper-body injury sustained on February 14th. Terrance and star 2025 NHL Draft prospect Matthew Schaefer are currently participating in Erie’s practices in no-contact jerseys ahead of round two.

Terrance seemed to have a strong step on the season prior to his injury. He had scored 20 goals and 39 points in 45 games, just shy of the scoring pace that led him to 52 points in 56 games last year. But his step back in scoring lined up with a clear improvement in his defensive game. Terrance looked far more comfortable in commanding the center role this season, and provided the safety-net and defensive-zone control needed to let aggressive offensive pieces like Sam Alfano, Malcolm Spence, and Schaefer drive down the ice. Anaheim certainly wanted to lean into those traits when they selected Terrance with the 59th-overall pick in 2023. He scored an impressive 30 goals and 47 points in 67 OHL games – and nine points in eight games with the U.S. NTDP – that season, showing clear upside as a forechecker with a snappy wrist shot.

Two seasons later, Terrance has rounded out those attributes while maintaining his strong goal-scoring. He’ll look to return hot for the Otters in a win-or-go-home playoff series against the top team in the OHL. Should the series go downhill, Terrance would be eligible to make his AHL debut without burning a year of his entry-level contract.

Radko Gudas Won't Require Offseason Surgery

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  • Contrary to a report from yesterday evening, Anaheim Ducks’ captain, Radko Gudas, isn’t headed for the operating room this off-season (Tweet Link). The initial was generated to contextualize Gudas’s “struggles” this season, but it doesn’t appear to be based on much accuracy. Gudas has essentially only struggled with his possession quality this year, as his physicality and defensive metrics (both of which he’s excelled at his entire career) have improved.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Ducks Recall Ville Husso

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The Ducks have recalled goaltender Ville Husso from AHL San Diego after John Gibson left last night’s start with a lower-body injury, according to the AHL’s transactions log. In a corresponding move, the team reassigned prospect Damian Clara to replace Husso on San Diego’s roster. He was previously on loan to Liiga’s Kärpät.

Anaheim has recalled Husso frequently since acquiring him from the Red Wings in February, constantly as a fill-in for the oft-injured Gibson. This is Gibson’s third injury-related absence in the past six weeks, including a three-gamer in February and a seven-gamer last month. While the latter was due to a lower-body injury, it’s unclear if the injury he sustained last night against the Flames is related.

While Gibson’s absences have meant more playing time for the upstart Lukáš Dostál than for Husso, the third-stringer has made a start and a relief appearance for the Ducks since the move. He’s allowed five goals on 51 shots for a good .902 SV%, although his only decision was a 3-2 loss to Utah on March 12. When considering his nine appearances with Detroit, his numbers for the year are still underwhelming. The struggling 30-year-old has a 1-6-2 record, .874 SV% and 3.71 GAA in nine starts and two relief appearances across both clubs while allowing 7.0 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.

A pending unrestricted free agent, Husso won’t earn anything resembling his current $4.75MM cap hit on the open market this summer. A two-way deal may even be necessary for him to land another NHL contract. He’s still been strong enough in the minors to command a No. 3 role, posting a 2.64 GAA, .910 SV%, and a 15-6-0 record in 22 appearances split between AHL Grand Rapids and San Diego.

With the Ducks now mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Husso remain up for the last two weeks of the campaign while Gibson gets an early start to his offseason.

As for Clara, the 20-year-old will get his first taste of life in North America to close his 2024-25 season. It didn’t go as well as he’d hoped overseas, posting a .879 SV% and 3.19 GAA in 21 appearances for Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League before his late-season transfer to Finland. It’s worth noting that was Clara’s debut against top-level European competition – his breakout 2023-24 campaign was spent in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, helping Brynäs IF gain promotion back to the SHL for this season with a .913 SV% in 34 outings.

The 6’6″ Italian improved his play down the stretch, logging a 2.49 GAA, .910 SV%, one shutout, and a 3-7-0 record in 10 showings with Kärpät to end the season. He’ll almost certainly serve as Italy’s starting netminder for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which they’ll participate in as the host country. A second-round pick by Anaheim in 2023, he adds to a decent complement of young goalies in the organization behind Dostál that also includes Calle Clang and Tomas Suchanek – neither of whom are available to San Diego right now because of injuries.

Jacob Trouba Out Day-To-Day

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  • According to Derek Lee of The Hockey News, the Anaheim Ducks avoided a worst-case scenario with defenseman Jacob Trouba. Trouba suffered a scary injury in last night’s contest against the New York Rangers when he ran into former teammate Igor Shesterkin’s stick, causing Trouba to crash into the boards at a high velocity. Despite not joining the team for practice today, Trouba’s recovery timeline is only considered day-to-day, and he could feature for Anaheim in their upcoming contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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