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Ducks Activate Max Comtois Off IR

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The Ducks will be welcoming back an important part of their forward group tonight as Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register notes (Twitter link) that winger Max Comtois has been activated off injured reserve.  He had missed the previous 16 games after breaking a bone in his hand.

2021-22 has been a surprising season for the 22-year-old and not in a good way.  After leading Anaheim in scoring last season with 33 points in 56 games, his production had gone in the complete opposite direction prior to the injury.  This year, he has just a single assist in 13 contests despite still logging over 13 minutes a game while his shots and shot attempts are down considerably.  With Anaheim off to a surprising 17-9-5 start to sit atop the Pacific Division heading into tonight’s game against Arizona, Comtois will have to be more productive if he wants to maintain his spot in the lineup.

Meanwhile, the Ducks will also welcome back John Gibson to the lineup after missing the last two games due to a lower-body injury.  He’ll get the start and give Anthony Stolarz – who is on a nice run as of late with a .951 SV% in his last six games – the night off.  Lukas Dostal was sent back to AHL San Diego in a corresponding move.

Anaheim Ducks Activate Ryan Getzlaf

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The Anaheim Ducks have activated forward Ryan Getzlaf from injured reserve, according to The Orange County Register’s Elliot Teaford. He could be in for Saturday night’s game against Pittsburgh.

The Ducks captain originally went on injured reserve about a week ago, where he was classified as week-to-week. It’s a much swifter return to the lineup than expected.

Now 36, Getzlaf was enjoying a renaissance year with 20 points in just 23 games prior to his injury. He’s been an integral part of an unexpected resurgence for the 15-8-5 Ducks, who sit second in the Pacific Division.

Buddy Robinson, who’s played in just three games this season and is the only active Ducks forward to average under 10 minutes per game, is a likely candidate to sit out.

Getzlaf’s return is even more important considering the added absence of Adam Henrique, who’d been flanking Getzlaf along with Troy Terry this year. Vinni Lettieri and Sam Steel have filled in for the two of them alongside Terry, so the Ducks will have some lineup shuffling to do with their captain’s return.

Adam Henrique And Ryan Getzlaf Could Still Play On Current Road Trip

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  • Ducks centers Adam Henrique and Ryan Getzlaf could rejoin the team at some point on their five-game road trip, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. The veterans are having strong bounce-back seasons; Henrique is only five points shy of his total from 2020-21 while Getzlaf has already surpassed his total from last season and sits second in team scoring.  Both are dealing with lower-body injuries.

Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf Out Week-To-Week

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12/5: The Ducks have transitioned Getzlaf to the injured reserve, the team announced. In his place, the team has recalled young two-way center Benoit-Olivier Groulx from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. Anaheim did not issue any update to Getzlaf’s condition, but the IR stint will keep him out a week minimum- though they also did not disclose if the placement was retroactive to the initial date of Getzlaf’s injury on Tuesday.

12/3: Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury, per a team tweet.

Getzlaf appeared to suffer the injury about halfway through the first period in Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings. He took just four shifts and played 2:48 before exiting the game. The captain didn’t play Wednesday night against Vegas.

The 36-year-old Saskatchewan native has already eclipsed his point total from last season, scoring a goal and 19 assists for 20 points in 23 games. He was playing 19:01 per game, his most ice time in three years.

Needless to say, the leading scorer in Ducks history has been a huge part of his team’s unexpected success so far this season. He and Troy Terry have teamed up for a combined 45 points already this season, guiding the Ducks to a 13-8-3 start.

With Getzlaf out, it looks like 23-year-old Sam Steel will get a chance on the top line between Terry and Adam Henrique. The 2016 first-round pick has just five points in 17 games this year, but it’s a big opportunity for him to demonstrate he still has the ability to be an NHL player.

Ducks Assign Benoit-Olivier Groulx And Vinni Lettieri To San Diego

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  • The Ducks have returned centers Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Vinni Lettieri to San Diego of the AHL, per a team release. Groulx has seen regular minutes with Anaheim, playing in 16 games in his rookie season although he only has three points to show for it.  Meanwhile, Lettieri has suited up three times with the Ducks, collecting a goal and an assist.

Adam Henrique Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury

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Anaheim Ducks forward Adam Henrique is out with an upper-body injury and has returned to Anaheim from the team’s road trip, per a Ducks tweet. He’s listed as day-to-day.

Henrique is in the midst of a wonderful bounce-back campaign after spending some time last season in the press box. Through 19 games, he’s third on the Ducks with 15 points (six goals, nine assists). His ice time has seen a significant uptick, too, playing 17:16 per game compared to 16:02 last season.

The 31-year-old native of Brantford, Ontario, scored his 200th NHL goal earlier this season, his 11th full one in the NHL. Prior to last season’s shortened 56-game schedule, Henrique had scored 40 or more points in seven consecutive seasons.

He’s been a big part of what’s been a resurgent season for a younger, faster, and better Anaheim Ducks team. While it doesn’t sound like his injury is serious, they’ll miss him for the next little while. Anaheim faces a pair of Canadian teams in Ottawa and Toronto next, before some in-division matchups against Los Angeles and Vegas.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Anaheim Ducks

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Anaheim Ducks.

What are the Ducks most thankful for?

The light at the end of the tunnel.  It has been a few rough years for Anaheim as they haven’t even come close to a playoff spot in each of the last three years.  However, those struggles have yielded some promising prospects, headlined by centers Trevor Zegras plus Mason McTavish and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.  Those are three strong building blocks after not really being able to develop any in-house over the past few years.  Are they ready to vault themselves back into consistent playoff contention yet?  Probably not but there is certainly a roadmap to getting there with their promising young core.

Who are the Ducks most thankful for?

Troy Terry.

Since being held off the scoresheet in the opening game of the season, the 24-year-old has recorded at least a point in 16 straight contests.  That’s impressive for anyone but especially for a player who had only reached 16 points in a single season once.  Yes, it had been a particularly quiet first few seasons for him despite the fact that Terry lit up the scoresheet in college with Denver but all of a sudden, he has grabbed hold of a spot on the top line and gone with it.  His dozen goals have helped propel the Ducks into the top five in goals scored, a mark that hardly anyone would have seen coming.  Is this sustainable to the point where he can join the other top prospects as a piece to build around?  That’s the big question from a long-term perspective but for now, Anaheim’s just enjoying the ride.

What would the Ducks be even more thankful for?

A return to form for Max Comtois in the second half.  It has not been a fun season for the 22-year-old after he led Anaheim in scoring last season, earning himself a two-year deal at just over $2MM in the process.  He’s not a pure power forward but brings enough physicality with some scoring touch to make him a key part of their attack.

But things haven’t gone well at all this season.  Comtois has just one assist in 13 games, has been scratched, and is now out until probably January as he recovers from a broken hand.  The first half has been a complete write-off but if they’re going to hang around the playoff mix, they’ll need him to be the impact player he was last season.

What should be on the Ducks’ Holiday Wish List?

Since ownership has already acknowledged that their GM search will likely go into the offseason, that chair isn’t getting permanently filled over the next few weeks.  But the key item on interim GM Jeff Solomon’s wish list will be defensive stability.

In terms of the current roster, there is a need to add with both Simon Benoit and Josh Mahura both better suited for depth roles and right now, one of them is in the lineup on a regular basis when everyone’s healthy.  Adding a veteran defender, particularly one that can play in the top four when injuries strike, would be a good addition for the Ducks.

But stability also extends beyond this season.  Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson are both pending unrestricted free agents.  Getting one or both of them signed would certainly go a long way towards giving them some more defensive certainty but finding the right price point to sway them away from the open market will cost a pretty penny.  There’s also the potential that one or both are moved to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing.

It won’t be easy but Solomon needs to find a way to retain or replace those two veterans, especially since Anaheim’s prospect depth is largely littered with forwards beyond Drysdale; it is an area of need long-term.  That’s a tall task for anyone let alone an interim GM but securing the future of their back end will go a long way towards securing their future as a team on the rise.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ducks Return Mason McTavish To Junior

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Mason McTavish’s time with the Ducks this season has come to an end as the team announced that they have assigned the center back to Peterborough of the OHL.  Interim GM Jeff Solomon provided the reasoning for the decision:

While we are happy with Mason’s development to date, we believe it is in his best long-term interests to continue his development playing in the OHL for the remainder of this season and, hopefully for Team Canada in the upcoming World Junior Championships. Among other things, this move should afford Mason the opportunity to gain additional experience playing his natural center position, which we believe will be beneficial to Mason and the Ducks in the long run.

The 18-year-old, who was the third-overall pick in this year’s draft, made the team out of training camp but dealt with a lower-body injury early in the year which stopped his games played clock and actually created a window for him to be sent to AHL San Diego on a conditioning stint, something that can’t be done on a regular assignment as he’s too young to be sent down as part of the CHL-NHL agreement.  That allowed Anaheim to delay a decision on what to do with McTavish until now.

McTavish posted decent numbers offensively with two goals and an assist in his nine games but struggled on the possession side of things.  What certainly would have complicated the decision for Anaheim is that they’re banged up at the moment with wingers Max Comtois, Max Jones, and Rickard Rakell all out with injuries which has thinned their forward depth as a result but they’ve opted for the longer-term play here.

With this move, Anaheim will not activate the first season of his entry-level deal meaning that McTavish will still have three years remaining on his three-year contract after this season while the Ducks will still have seven seasons of club control.  Meanwhile, McTavish will go back to Peterborough, a team he hasn’t spent a lot of time with since that league didn’t play at all last season; he last suited up for the Petes more than 18 months ago.

Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek was the first to report McTavish’s assignment.

Max Comtois Undergoes Hand Surgery

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that Max Comtois will be out for the next six weeks after he underwent surgery yesterday on his right hand to remove a small bone. Comtois hasn’t played in more than a week, last suiting up against the Seattle Kraken on November 11.

Despite being one of Anaheim’s brightest stars in 2020-21, Comtois has been nearly invisible this season. The 22-year-old forward registered just a single assist in 13 games before going down to injury, failing to score on any of his 19 shots. His minutes had been dropped, and even his physical play had seemed blunted compared to a year ago, when he recorded 33 points, 93 hits, and 40 penalty minutes in 55 games.

Now he’ll miss six weeks with hand surgery, hopefully, a procedure that can help him get back to the player he was last season. The Ducks, who dropped out of first place last night when their winning streak was snapped, don’t desperately need that Comtois to contend for a playoff spot, but it would certainly help.

It will be interesting to see how the lineup shakes out when Comtois is ready to return. The team already sent Benoit-Olivier Groulx to the minor leagues today after a few healthy scratches, and Mason McTavish will burn the first year of his entry-level contract with the next game he plays. The team has enough young depth to allow Comtois to take his time, but he’ll have to work hard to re-establish himself as a top-nine option upon his return.

Bob Murray Resigns As Ducks GM

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A day after being placed on administrative leave, Ducks general manager Bob Murray has tendered his resignation and will enroll in an alcohol abuse program, per a team announcement.  Jeff Solomon, who was named the interim GM yesterday pending an investigation into Murray, will retain that title for the time being.  Murray released the following statement:

I want to apologize to anyone adversely affected by my behavior. I vow to make changes to my life, starting with enrolling in a treatment program. I want to thank Henry and Susan Samueli, and Michael Schulman, as working for them has been one of the highlights of my career. As I step away from the Ducks, I will focus my attention on where it should be: improving my life for the betterment of my family and friends.

Murray had been with the organization since 2005 when he joined them as their Senior VP of Hockey Operations and GM of their AHL affiliate which was in Portland at the time.  The 66-year-old was promoted to GM midway through the 2008-09 campaign where he took over for Brian Burke, a role he had held ever since until today.

Over that stretch, Murray made a whopping 105 trades and signed 287 contracts, per CapFriendly.  Among his notable signings were the eight-year deals handed to franchise mainstays Corey Perry ($69MM) and Ryan Getzlaf (66MM) which remain the richest contracts in franchise history plus the eight-year pacts that defenseman Cam Fowler ($52MM) and goaltender John Gibson ($51.2MM) are currently on, ones that have generally been viewed as team-friendly deals over the years.  Anaheim made eight playoff appearances with Murray running the show, getting as far as the Western Conference Final in two of those years.

As for Solomon, he’s in his first year with Anaheim after being hired just a few months ago following 14 seasons in the front office for the Kings.  It appears as if the interim GM title could very well be his through the end of the season; owners Henry and Susan Samueli indicated in a statement that they will now undergo a “methodical, extensive search” that they hope to complete no later than next summer.  Accordingly, Solomon will have an opportunity to make a strong case for the full-time role; helping get Anaheim to the playoffs after missing three straight years would certainly help on that front; the Ducks are off to a good start with a 7-4-3 record early on, good enough for second in the Pacific Division and are definitely in the mix in the early going.

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report Murray’s resignation.

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