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Anaheim Ducks Activate Troy Terry

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The Anaheim Ducks have swapped some forwards, activating Troy Terry from injured reserve and moving Adam Henrique to take his place. Justin Kirkland, who cleared waivers earlier today, has also been loaned to the AHL.

Terry, 25, played just three shifts in his first game back after the All-Star break before going down to injury, meaning he hasn’t finished a full NHL game yet in February. The talented forward can now return to continue another strong season, with 42 points in 51 games.

More concerning for the Ducks is the status of Henrique, who has been ruled out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He was one of Anaheim’s trade chips heading into the deadline, as even with another year on his contract, his experience and versatility was drawing interest from several clubs.

Now, with some uncertainty around his health, it’s hard for contenders to jump into a Henrique if he costs a prime asset. The 33-year-old carries a cap hit of $5.825MM through 2023-24, and isn’t producing at quite the same rate as last season. Still, with 19 goals in 57 games, a decade of experience at center, and strong two-way tendencies, perhaps someone will welcome the risk at an injury-reduced price.

Injured on Tuesday, he technically could be activated to play in the Ducks’ final game before the deadline if he is healthy enough to get back on the ice.

Anaheim Ducks Acquire Josiah Slavin

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The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks have completed a minor trade, swapping Josiah Slavin and Hunter Drew today. According to Scott Powers of The Athletic, the Blackhawks wanted to give Slavin an NHL opportunity with another organization, something he wouldn’t receive in Chicago.

Despite that, Slavin will report to the San Diego Gulls at first, meaning his NHL dreams will have to wait for the time being. The 24-year-old forward has just 15 NHL appearances, all with Chicago last season, and is still looking for his first goal at te highest level.

Even in AHL Rockford his production had dried up, with just three goals and 11 points in 51 games this year, following his 32-point effort in 2021-22. The seventh-round pick (and younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes star defenseman Jaccob Slavin) is on the second season of a two-year entry-level contract he signed out of college and will be a restricted free agent this summer.

On the other hand, Drew has just two appearances in the NHL, coming last season with the Ducks. The sixth-round pick transitioned from defense to forward last season and managed to score 17 goals and 38 points in 64 games for the San Diego Gulls, while racking up 134 penalty minutes as one of the toughest players in the league. Things haven’t gone so well this year, with just five goals and 11 points, but those penalty totals are still high as Drew brings physicality every night.

He too is on an expiring contract, and will be a restricted free agent this summer. The deal comes down to swapping some minor league depth, and perhaps giving two players a better path to NHL playing time.

Three Players Placed On Waivers

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Three forwards have hit the waiver wire today. Toronto Maple Leafs winger Joey Anderson, Florida Panthers center Chris Tierney, and Anaheim Ducks winger Justin Kirkland are on today’s list, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

For the Maple Leafs, this is one more step in a long list of salary cap management moves this season. As the team looks to add one more small piece after acquiring Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues, every dollar of salary cap space matters. If Anderson clears waivers, they have the flexibility to shuttle him and his cap hit up and down to the AHL through the trade deadline.

Anderson has slowly moved up the Toronto depth chart over his three seasons there, and he’s played more NHL games this season than the last two combined. The 24-year-old has two goals and an assist in 14 games this year.

With Anthony Duclair nearing a return to action, the Panthers need to create some roster flexibility as well. Tierney had already cleared waivers once preseason, but after spending most of the past three months on the NHL roster, he’ll need to clear again in order for Florida to assign him to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Tierney, 28, is averaging under nine minutes of ice time this year and has three points in 13 games with Florida.

Kirkland landing on waivers today signifies he’s healthy again after sustaining an undisclosed injury in early January. The 26-year-old AHL mainstay made his NHL debut this season but has yet to register his first NHL point.

John Klingberg Out With Lower-Body Injury

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that defenseman John Klingberg is out with a lower-body injury. There was no word on whether his status was considered day-to-day or something longer, though the team noted that Nathan Beaulieu would be drawing into the lineup in Klingberg’s place. While this development won’t have any impact on the Ducks’ long-gone playoff hopes, it could have an impact on the trade deadline. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that this is not an instance of a team holding a player out of the lineup for trade-related reasons, as we have seen teams do with other blueliners such as Jakob Chychrun and Vladislav Gavrikov.

While Klingberg, 30, has had a nightmarish season in Anaheim (22 points in 48 games, down in scoring pace from 47 in 74 last season) he’s still a well-regarded offensive defenseman. Just last summer he earned a $7MM one-year deal, and it’s likely that there would be teams interested in acquiring him at the deadline. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta links Klingberg with the Edmonton Oilers’ search for defensive help at the deadline, and it’s likely that there would be more than just Edmonton looking to add him to their team. Assuming that’s the case, interested teams will likely want to monitor his health status closely due to this news. In addition to Klingberg, the Ducks also announced that Adam Henrique would be leaving the game with an injury, which could be another injury development with trade deadline implications.

Dmitry Kulikov Expected To Draw Trade Interest

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  • Calls inquiring on the trade availability of Anaheim Ducks defenseman Dmitry Kulikov are poised to increase sharply as the market for Columbus Blue Jackets blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov tightens. Marek noted on 32 Thoughts to “expect attention” to be paid to Kulikov by teams who miss out on Gavrikov. Kulikov, 32, is a steady left-shot defenseman who plays a solid defensive game and is currently the Ducks’ leader in penalty-killing ice time. He’s on an expiring $2.25MM AAV deal, and one would expect that the Ducks, with over $60MM in projected deadline cap space per CapFriendly, would have no issue retaining salary to make a deal work.

Ducks Prospect Henry Thrun To Test Free Agency

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The Ducks will soon be losing a promising prospect as GM Pat Verbeek confirmed to Lisa Dillman of the Orange County Register that defenseman Henry Thrun will not sign with the team and instead intends to go to free agency this summer.

The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Anaheim back in 2019 (101st overall) and has vastly outperformed his draft stock since then.  He’s averaging a point per game so far this season with Harvard and has 77 points in 90 games in his three years at the NCAA level, numbers that are well above average for a defender.

Anaheim has a very strong defensive pipeline with youngster Jamie Drysdale already in the NHL along with 2021 second-round pick Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, who went 10th overall last summer, Drew Helleson, acquired from Colorado in the Josh Manson trade last season, and Jackson LaCombe, who recently indicated that he will sign once his college season ends.  Accordingly, it appears Thrun feels his best path to try to earn a spot in the NHL will be somewhere else.

He’s not the first Harvard player that has gone this route or at least threatened to do so.  Jimmy Vesey and Alex Kerfoot ultimately tested the market while Adam Fox and John Marino were eventually traded and signed with their new team (although it took two trades for Fox to do so).  It’s possible that Verbeek, now knowing he won’t be able to sign Thrun, will look to trade his rights elsewhere in the hopes of at least salvaging some sort of return while the acquiring team would hope to convince Thrun to sign, allowing them to add a quality prospect for a below-market return.

John Klingberg Misses Vegas Game Due To Illness

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  • The Ducks announced (Twitter link) prior to their game against Vegas that defenseman John Klingberg was scratched due to illness. The veteran has been a bit more productive lately, picking up nine points in 15 games in 2023 but has still underwhelmed with 20 points in 45 games on the season.  Klingberg is a pending unrestricted free agent with a $7MM AAV and is widely expected to be traded over the next few weeks.

Ducks Recall Lukas Dostal

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The Ducks have decided to swap out their backup goaltenders, announcing that they’ve recalled Lukas Dostal from San Diego of the AHL.  In a corresponding move, Olle Eriksson Ek was returned to the Gulls.

Dostal got into seven games with Anaheim on his first recall earlier this season, posting a 3.53 GAA along with a team-high .909 SV%.  The 22-year-old has spent the bulk of the year in the minors, playing in 34 contests with San Diego where he has a 2.97 GAA with a .912 SV%, earning himself an appearance at the AHL All-Star game which was earlier this week.

As for Eriksson Ek, he backed up John Gibson last night with Anthony Stolarz dealing with a lower-body injury that has him listed as day-to-day.  The 23-year-old has yet to make an NHL appearance and has struggled considerably in the minors this season with a 4.79 GAA and a .851 SV% in 13 games, numbers that are significantly worse than his first three seasons in North America.

Troy Terry Placed On Injured Reserve

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After playing just three shifts before exiting Monday’s game against the Dallas Stars, Troy Terry has been placed on injured reserve. The Anaheim Ducks forward is dealing with an upper-body injury and missed Tuesday’s match against the Chicago Blackhawks. In his roster spot, the Ducks have recalled goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek from the AHL.

With Anthony Stolarz listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury Eriksson Ek will likely serve as John Gibson’s backup tonight. The young netminder has never appeared in an NHL game and has an .851 save percentage in 13 games for the San Diego Gulls this season.

Terry, meanwhile, has been excellent once again, racking up 42 points through 51 games to earn a trip to the All-Star game. The 25-year-old now has 109 points in 126 games over his last two seasons, experiencing a true breakout after some middling performances early in his career.

For a contending team, removing that from the lineup would be devastating. For the Ducks, it might realistically be a good thing. Anaheim is 5-1-1 in their last seven games, the opposite of what they want to accomplish this season. They have pulled within three points of the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division race and are now well ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets in the race for the top draft lottery position.

It could be good for the Ducks on a different level, too. Terry is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent at the end of the year, and with the excellent point totals he has recently put up, he will be looking for a huge raise on his current $1.45MM cap hit. Some time out of the lineup will help the Ducks in those negotiations, even if they want to be icing their young star as much as possible.

Jackson LaCombe Commits To Signing With Anaheim

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  • With Ducks prospect Jackson LaCombe playing in his final college season, some wondered if the defenseman might opt to not sign with Anaheim and instead go to free agency in the summer. However, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column, that won’t be the case as the 22-year-old has indicated to the team that he will sign at the end of his season at Minnesota.  LaCombe is averaging just shy of a point per game this season with 26 in 28 contests, helping him earn a nomination for the Hobey Baker Award.

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