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Mason McTavish

Ducks Want To Sign Mason McTavish Long-Term

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With Marco Rossi off the board, the top remaining restricted-free agent at forward is almost certainly Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish. The 22-year-old remains unsigned as September nears, pushing him to the very top of late-summer trade rumors. But despite growing discussion of a potential move, Eric Stephens of The Athletic emphasized that McTavish isn’t going anywhere.

In a recent mailbag, Stephens pointed out that – while plenty of teams need high-upside forwards – the Ducks have far too much need for their own center with upside. He added that the holdup in re-signing McTavish is the team’s desire to avoid a bridge contract, and ink one of their top scorers to a long-term contract.

McTavish always seemed unlikely to part from the Anaheim organization. He plays a style that’s confidently in-line with the preference of general manager Pat Verbeek, and both former head coach Greg Cronin and future head coach Joel Quenneville. McTavish was also one of the Ducks’ top offensive pieces last season, leading the team with 22 goals and ranking second with 52 points through 76 games on the season. The only player to outscore the young center was veteran winger Troy Terry, who finished the year with 55 points.

That’s a glowing performance for a player so young. While many players his age are still working towards breaking into the NHL, McTavish has already firmly planted his feet. He’s totaled 58 goals and 137 points in 220 games over the last three seasons – an average of 22 goals and 51 points per every 82 games. The 2021 third-overall selection also worked his way up to an even plus-minus last season, after recording a minus-19 and minus-23 in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons respectively.

More than finding his way to the top of Anaheim’s scoring charts, McTavish’s seemed to find a new layer of confidence last season. He emerged as one of the club’s top play-drivers, and the perfect skillful complement to the brute of Leo Carlsson. That mental improvement, and lineup fit, should set McTavish up for a huge season next year. He’ll enter the season as perhaps the best bet for the top-line center role under Quenneville’s guidance.

With a 30-goal and 60-point season seemingly within reach for McTavish, it only makes sense that Anaheim want to solidify his salary for the future as soon as they can. But finding the right price will be a challenge. The Chicago Blackhawks recently signed 21-year-old Frank Nazar to a seven-year, $46.2MM contract extension with the Chicago Blackhawks. That deal came after Nazar played in just 56 career games, and scored at a 40-point pace.

Those numbers are far flatter than the 60 goals and 140 points McTavish has totaled in 229 career games – likely earning the Ducks’ star a salary far above Nazar’s $6.6MM cap hit. Anaheim may need to be ready to spend $7MM or even $8MM on McTavish in order to buy a long-term extension. While that will require careful budgeting, it will put no stress on the Ducks’ 2025-26 season. They sit with more than $20.5MM in available cap space entering next season, with only McTavish left to sign.

A hardy extension for McTavish could be the Ducks’ first true stride towards a new era. He’s a high-impact centerman, with the skill to drive play and the heft to fit in a physical Ducks lineup. While rumors continue to swirl, Stephens assures that Anaheim will take that step forward sooner rather than later.

Poll: Who Will Be The Next RFA To Sign?

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The summer is winding down across the NHL, but a rich group of remaining restricted-free agents are keeping multiple teams from closing their books just yet. There are still multiple top, young players awaiting contracts for the 2025-26 season – including top-line features like Luke Hughes, Marco Rossi, and Mason McTavish. Pending any holdouts, it seems hard to imagine any of the top names not finding a new deal before the start of the season. But who will get the assurance next?

Hughes seems like a confident bet. There’s no denying the warm relationship between his family and the New Jersey Devils organization, and both team and player have already expressed interest in locking up a long-term contract. But that desire has been the exact hang-up in contract negotiations, as the Devils sit with just over $6.1MM in available cap space, per PuckPedia. Hughes scored 44 points in 71 games last year, and 47 points in 82 games in the year prior. That scoring is the second-most from any U23 defender in the NHL over the last two seasons, just behind Jake Sanderson (95 points) and ahead of Brock Faber (76 points).

Both Sanderson and Faber have already found their contracts for the future – each signing eight-year deals with cap hits north of $8MM. That seems to set a clear market for what Hughes, but it’s a price tag that New Jersey is currently priced out of. Landing a new deal with Hughes will seemingly take a gentleman’s agreement, or a supplemental move like parting with the $1.15MM cap hit of Kurtis MacDermid.

New Jersey’s holdups could pave way for Anaheim Ducks center McTavish to land a deal first. McTavish is another undeniable talent, who worked his way to a lofty 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games last season – good for second on the Ducks in scoring. He seems well set up for another big step next season, on an improved Ducks lineup with a new head coach. But McTavish’s continued divide with a rich Ducks team – currently wielding $20.54MM in cap space – has many speculating about what the two sides could be disagreeing on. That dialogue has made McTavish a top option for any team considering a late-summer offer sheet, though Anaheim’s rich cap space would make it tough to successfully buy McTavish. Instead, it seems the two sides will be tasked only with deciding between a short-term bridge deal or a deal that carries McTavish through his prime.

The Minnesota Wild will be facing a similarly challenging question with top center Marco Rossi. Rossi is another player who managed a true breakout last year, with 24 goals and 60 points in 82 games. He stepped into a prime role with the Wild in the second-half of the year, taking on the top-line center role with Joel Eriksson Ek out with injury and routinely earning north of 20 minutes of ice time. Rossi looked up to the task, but then was surprisingly relegated to a fourth-line role for Minnesota’s six postseason games. The Wild are clearly at ends with the question of whether Rossi’s 5-foot-9 frame can stand up to a true #1 role. That hang-up has made Rossi’s situation perhaps the most likely to drag through the pre-season. And still, it’s hard to imagine Minnesota will give up easily on their most recent top-10 draft pick. Rossi could be a strong candidate for a short-term, prove-it contract – which would give Minnesota the time to figure out his lineup role. The Wild sit with just over $9.4MM in cap space.

There are plenty of strong candidates to sign next outside of the big three names. The gap between the Calgary Flames and impressive center Connor Zary has been revealed as narrow. Multiple players have already carved out lineup roles with their signing team, and now only need the deal to prove it – players like Seattle’s Ryker Evans and Nashville’s Luke Evangelista. And other teams are merely one contract away from a full book, like the Vegas Golden Knights with winger Alexander Holtz. Any of those situations could quickly cave, and land another promising young player with the ramp they need for next season.

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Latest On Mason McTavish

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The Ducks haven’t been actively shopping the signing rights to restricted free agent Mason McTavish, but that hasn’t stopped teams from expressing trade interest, as the center remains without a contract. Fervent interest will presumably be helped along by his essentially dominating the market for young centers. Wild RFA Marco Rossi’s talks have all but dried up with little to no interest league-wide in the long-term contract he desires. The Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Red Wings have all shown serious interest – the last club chief among them, James Murphy of RG writes.

Without much talk of an offer sheet, a notion sources told Murphy to dispel with Anaheim having ample space to match, McTavish has little control over his destiny. Speculation has indicated he’s concerned about his long-term role with the Ducks after their offseason shopping spree added needed depth to their forward group, but there’s little to no appetite from the Ducks’ end to facilitate a trade unless he outright refuses to sign a contract.

All the teams interested have a clear need for a second-line center. Unlike in SoCal, where there’s still a small chance for him to compete with Leo Carlsson for long-term 1C duties, there wouldn’t be that upward mobility there for him with Nick Suzuki in Montreal and Sebastian Aho in Carolina not vacating their posts anytime soon. The Wings have the weakest top pivot out of the group in Dylan Larkin, but he still wouldn’t be walking into Day 1 first-line duties there if that’s his goal.

While McTavish may have the standard profile of a high-motor but not hugely offensively untapped 2C, his performance last season shows there could be more to behold. The 22-year-old posted a team-leading 22 goals in 76 games, and his 52 points finished three back of Troy Terry for the team lead. That’s highly impressive production in an offensively stifled system under outgoing head coach Greg Cronin, and with his 12.2% shooting rate remaining projectable, there’s significant 65-to-75-point breakout potential for him this season as the team presumably adopts a more aggressive style under Joel Quenneville.

If Anaheim begins entertaining offers for the 6’1″ pivot’s signing rights, though, they’ll be looking for a blue-chip right-shot defense prospect as the principal point of the return, Murphy reports. That means names like 2023 first-rounders Axel Sandin-Pellikka would need to be in play in Detroit’s case, or that year’s No. 5 pick David Reinbacher in Montreal’s. Draft-capital-wise, it’s logical from the Ducks’ perspective after using the No. 3 overall pick on McTavish in 2021.

Ducks To Activate Mason McTavish From Injured Reserve

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The Ducks will activate center Mason McTavish from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s contest against the Kraken, Derek Lee of The Hockey News reports. Anaheim is only carrying 22 out of the maximum 23 players on the active roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to have him back in the lineup. Nonetheless, they’ve carried 13 healthy forwards for most of the year, so a demotion to the AHL, either Sam Colangelo or Jansen Harkins, is likely coming.

McTavish, 21, has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury. He landed on IR last week as the Ducks opened up roster flexibility in the wake of injuries to fellow forward Robby Fabbri and veteran defenseman Cam Fowler.

Through 13 games before exiting the lineup, McTavish had two goals and six assists for eight points. That works out to 0.62 per game, down slightly from last season’s career-best 0.66 rate in his sophomore season.

Selected third overall in 2021, the cerebral McTavish has transitioned well to the NHL early on. He’s firmly grasped a top-nine role and was averaging a career-high 16:18 per game before his upper-body injury. He hasn’t looked out of place at all down the middle, either, tying for third on the team in scoring last season with 42 points in 64 games while winning 437 out of 845 faceoffs, good for 51.7%.

The Switzerland-born Canadian national had spent most of his time this season centering Fabbri and Trevor Zegras, although he’ll obviously have some different linemates tonight with Fabbri on the shelf. His return is an important one for the .500 Ducks, who have managed to stay afloat thanks to strong goaltending despite their 24th-ranked offense (2.53 goals per game, up from last season’s 2.48).

Ducks Place Mason McTavish On IR; Recall Sam Colangelo, Tyson Hinds

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The Ducks placed center Mason McTavish on injured reserve Sunday with an upper-body issue, the team announced. The move opened up a second spot on the active roster, and Anaheim used both open slots to recall right-winger Sam Colangelo and defenseman Tyson Hinds in corresponding moves.

McTavish, 21, has already sat out three games with the injury, which he sustained on Nov. 8 against the Wild. He was listed as day-to-day as late as Saturday, so the placement doesn’t indicate a change in his return timeline. He’ll be eligible for reinstatement from IR at any time, as he’s already missed more than seven days.

The third overall pick of the 2021 draft is the third Duck to land on IR in the past few days. He joins fellow forward Robby Fabbri, who underwent surgery on Friday to repair a torn meniscus and will miss the next six weeks, and defenseman Cam Fowler, who’s out for two to four weeks with an upper-body injury.

It’s been a good start to the season for McTavish, who’s averaging a career-high 16:18 per game and is tied for third on the team in points with eight (2 G, 6 A) in 13 appearances. The 6’0″, 213-lb pivot has won 48.3% of his faceoffs and has arguably earned a couple of more points than he’s produced, shooting 3.6 points below his career average of 12.3%.

He has been a slight drag on the team’s possession numbers, though. The Ducks are controlling 41.2% of shot attempts with McTavish on the ice at even strength compared to 45.5% without him. He had been centering a line between Fabbri and Trevor Zegras, with the former now moving up to center Frank Vatrano and Troy Terry with his linemates injured.

Whether Colangelo and Hinds will draw into the lineup Monday against the Stars remains to be seen, although it’s a decent possibility with head coach Greg Cronin continuing to shuffle lines in the wake of injuries. Colangelo, 23 next month, is off to a scorching-hot start in the minors with San Diego. The 2020 second-round pick leads the team with nine goals in 14 games and is second with points in 14, trailing only Jansen Harkins’ 17.

Colangelo, who checks in at 6’2″ and 205 lbs, is in his first full season of pro hockey. The Massachusetts native signed his entry-level contract last spring after transferring to Western Michigan for his senior season, leading them with 24 goals in 38 games. He made his NHL debut down the stretch in 2023-24, averaging 12:33 per contest and recording his first NHL goal in his first game on April 12 against the Flames.

It is, however, the first NHL recall for the 21-year-old Hinds. The lefty was a third-round pick in 2021 and is amid his second professional season, recording 10 points and a -8 rating in 71 appearances for San Diego last year. He’s yet to record an assist in 2024-25 but has already matched last year’s goal total with two in 13 games. The Quebec native, who’s on track to become the capable stay-at-home defender he was drafted to be, was ranked as the 14th-best prospect in Anaheim’s system in McKeen’s Hockey’s preseason ranking.

West Notes: Eberle, Ducks, Joseph

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The Kraken will be without their captain for at least the next two games and possibly more as Tim Booth of The Seattle Times relays that Jordan Eberle won’t play this weekend due to a lower-body injury.  The 34-year-old was injured in a collision on Thursday against Chicago.  Head coach Dan Bylsma noted that while Eberle was feeling a little better on Friday, there still needs to be further testing and evaluation done; that will come early next week to determine how much longer he might be out for.  Eberle is off to a decent start to the season, notching six goals and five assists in 17 games so far while playing a little under 16 minutes a night.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Ducks issued several injury updates late Friday. After originally being classified as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, defenseman Cam Fowler will now miss the next two to four weeks because of it.  A speculative trade candidate, the 32-year-old has been limited to just 12 games so far this season where he has only two points in a little over 21 minutes a night.  Meanwhile, forward Mason McTavish is day-to-day with an upper-body injury while defenseman Urho Vaakanainen’s upper-body issue is being evaluated; he’s also listed as day-to-day for now.  McTavish has two goals and six assists in 13 games so far while Vaakanainen has suited up just five times and has one assist and seven blocked shots.
  • Blues defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph left the road trip to have his injury better evaluated but the test results were good, relays Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). Accordingly, the 25-year-old is listed as day-to-day.  Joseph is in his first season in St. Louis after signing with them in free agency following his non-tender from Pittsburgh.  He has played in 13 games so far this season, recording one assist while averaging a little under 14 minutes a night.

Anaheim Ducks Issue Injury Updates

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The Anaheim Ducks could have a light group for their game tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights. The organization announced forward Robby Fabbri is out with a lower-body injury while Cam Fowler and Mason McTavish are considered day-to-day with differing ailments.

Fabbri was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings this past offseason and was expected to offer some scoring potential in the Ducks’ middle-six. He’s played in all 14 of Anaheim’s games to start the season but only has two goals to show for it. He’s maintained his physicality on the West Coast but is far off his 20-goal production with Detroit from a year ago. The Ducks didn’t mention how long Fabbri is expected to remain on the shelf.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Fabbri and Fowler have been placed on the injured reserve although the latter has already missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. Since the IR placement is likely retroactive to Fowler’s most recent game on November 5th, he’s eligible to play in tomorrow night’s contest against the Golden Knights.

Arguably the most important injury news, albeit the mildest, is regarding McTavish. After finishing fourth on Anaheim’s roster in scoring with 42 points in 64 contests last season, McTavish is again off to a solid start with two goals and eight points in 13 contests. Still, given that the Ducks officially listed McTavish’s status as day-to-day, the organization may view him as a game-time decision for tomorrow night’s contest. If he’s unable to go, Anaheim will have to make a call-up from the AHL with only 12 healthy forwards on the roster.

Snapshots: Team Canada, Pacioretty, Marushev

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True best-on-best men’s hockey is only about six months away from making its return at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The countries participating have already named their first six roster players for the event, with Canada already confirming they’ll be taking Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Brad Marchand.

But there are still many roster decisions still to be made, especially for the league’s most common nationality. To that end, Luke Fox of Sportsnet listed some dark-horse youngsters that could challenge for spots. Most of them would be repping the senior team for the first time, although a few have World Championship experience.

Look for Quinton Byfield, Alexis Lafrenière and Mason McTavish to get outside consideration for bottom-six roles, Fox opines, while Thomas Harley and Owen Power will push to find spots on the blue line. But the biggest question mark at any international event for the Canadians recently has been goaltending, and that won’t change for the February tournament.

As such, look for Blues backup Joel Hofer to push for a spot on the final roster, Fox says. The 24-year-old finished 11th in Calder Trophy voting last season after posting a 15-12-1 record, .913 SV% and 2.65 GAA in 27 starts and three relief appearances behind Jordan Binnington in St. Louis.

Other tidbits from around the league:

  • If the Sharks aren’t content with the veteran pickups they’ve made so far this offseason, they should approach free-agent winger Max Pacioretty about attending training camp on a PTO, opines Max Miller of The Hockey News. San Jose was busy insulating rookies Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith this summer, adding Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg in free agency and claiming Barclay Goodrow off waivers from the Rangers. But the club could still have a bit of a competition brewing for roster spots up front, especially if captain Logan Couture isn’t healthy enough to return to play after osteitis pubis cost him nearly all of 2023-24. Pacioretty has played just 91 games combined over the past three seasons due to multiple Achilles tendon tears, and the 35-year-old had just four goals in 47 games with the Capitals last year.
  • Former Golden Knights prospect Maxim Marushev is on the move in his native Russia, dropping down from the KHL to the VHL with Metallurg Novokuznetsk for 2024-25 (per a team announcement). Marushev, now 25, was a seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights in 2020. He played parts of three seasons for their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, recording 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 125 games. Upon the expiry of his entry-level contract in 2023, he wasn’t issued a qualifying offer and returned home. However, he managed just one point in 28 KHL games last year, split between Chelyabinsk and Novosibirsk.

Ducks Notes: Verbeek, McTavish, Jones

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Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune is reporting that Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has already started to build his offseason shopping list as he looks to help the team emerge from a long rebuild. The Ducks placed seventh in the Pacific Division and finished well out of the playoffs this season once again. Anaheim hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2017-18 season but did win four more games this year than last season.

Lee reports that Verbeek is looking to reshape Anaheim’s bottom six by adding some speed and grit to the third and fourth lines and he reportedly would also like to add a right-handed defenseman to play alongside the many left-handed defensemen on the team.

In other Ducks notes:

  • Derek Lee also reported that Ducks forward Mason McTavish is dealing with a sprained MCL in his knee but shouldn’t require offseason surgery. The 21-year-old didn’t play in the final six games of Anaheim’s season and was spotted wearing a knee brace two weeks ago as he dealt with the injury. McTavish finished his second full NHL season with 19 goals and 23 assists in 64 games this season and should compete for a role on the Ducks’ top two lines next season.
  • Lee also tweeted that Ducks winger Max Jones is dealing with an injury as the former first-round pick has a separated shoulder. The light-scoring 26-year-old missed the final 11 games of the regular season with the injury and finished the year with five goals and 10 assists in 52 games. Jones played the season under a $1.295MM cap hit and is a restricted free agent on July 1st. He will require a qualifying offer of $1.5MM and given his lack of offensive production, the Ducks may opt to not qualify Jones and let him become an unrestricted free agent.

Ducks Recall Nikita Nesterenko, Issue Injury Updates

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The Ducks announced that they’ve recalled forward Nikita Nesterenko from AHL San Diego amid multiple changing injury designations ahead of tonight’s game against the Kraken. Forwards Max Jones (upper body) and Mason McTavish (lower body) are out, Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune reports, as is standout rookie defenseman Pavel Mintyukov (lower body). Lee also relays that blue-liner Radko Gudas will return after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. As a result of McTavish’s injury, the only new absence after their last outing, Nesterenko’s recall comes under emergency conditions. It does not count their two remaining standard recalls this season. Lee also reported on Nesterenko’s recall prior to the official announcement.

Nesterenko, 22, is in his first full professional season after signing with the Ducks out of Boston College to close out 2022-23. Drafted in the sixth round of the 2019 draft by the Wild, his signing rights were traded to Anaheim as part of the deal that sent defenseman John Klingberg to Minnesota at last year’s deadline. He ended last year with one goal in nine NHL games but didn’t crack the Ducks’ opening night roster this season, spending the entirety of 2023-24 thus far on assignment to San Diego. He’s settled in as their most competent two-way center, notching 15 goals and 33 points in 63 appearances. His +8 rating is the highest among forwards and second on the team behind veteran NHL defenseman Robert Hägg.

That strong showing on a bottom-five Gulls club may earn him some NHL viewings down the stretch. He wasn’t much of a factor in his first major league attempt, losing all three faceoffs he took and averaging 13:17 per game, but his otherwise poor 41.8 CF% at even strength was better than his teammates’ down the stretch, a testament to just how inept last season’s Ducks were at controlling possession. They’ve improved dramatically in that category under first-year head coach Greg Cronin, posting a 47.0 CF% at even strength compared to last year’s 42.6.

Anaheim is rather set down the middle with McTavish, Leo Carlsson, and Isac Lundeström doing decent work anchoring the top three lines, although a third-line checking unit anchored by Lundeström moving to the wing with Nesterenko down the middle is an appealing thought for Ducks fans. The club also has 2022 first-round pick Nathan Gaucher in the center pipeline. Trevor Zegras, who’s mustered only nine points in 25 games this season and has battled injuries seemingly non-stop, seems locked into a spot on the wing for the remainder of his tenure in SoCal.

With Ben Meyers and Jakob Silfverberg destined for unrestricted free agency this summer, there may be a spot for Nesterenko on next season’s opening night roster if GM Pat Verbeek doesn’t plug too many holes on the open market. His NHL performance to close out the season will likely go a long way toward dictating that likelihood. He’s set for restricted free agency in a few months after completing his two-year entry-level contract and still has five more years under team control until he’s eligible for UFA status.

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