Aug. 4: Colangelo has had his deal officially announced by the club.
Aug. 1, 2:30 p.m.: While announcements of the signings briefly appeared on the team’s website, those were issued in error, sources tell Lee. Neither deal has yet gotten across the finish line. When Washe’s deal is signed, it will pay him $775K NHL/$175K AHL this season before converting to a guaranteed $850K salary in 2026-27, per PuckPedia.
Aug. 1, 1:45 p.m.: The Ducks have signed forwards Sam Colangelo and Tim Washe to two-year contracts, The Hockey News’ Derek Lee reports. Both were restricted free agents. The contracts carry a two-way structure in 2025-26 before converting to one-way deals for the 2026-27 campaign.
While both were teammates at Western Michigan in the 2023-24 season, Colangelo got a one-year head start on his pro career. The 2020 second-round pick signed his entry-level deal in the spring of 2024 after four years in college, going point-per-game in four showings with AHL San Diego to close out the season, as well as scoring his first NHL goal in a three-game trial.
The 23-year-old hit his stride as he kicked off his first full professional season in 2024-25. He didn’t make the Ducks out of camp but received his first recall from San Diego in November, bouncing up and down between leagues over the next few months before eventually earning a permanent NHL roster spot in late February. Colangelo finished the year with 22 goals and 40 points in 40 AHL games as well as 10 goals and a pair of assists for 12 points in 32 NHL contests, respectable production for his bottom-six deployment at 12:29 per game.
The 6’2″, 205-lb winger now has his sights set on cracking the Ducks’ roster out of camp for the first time. While there’s a path for him to do so, it’s not a given. Anaheim is widely expected to carry three goalies to begin the season, meaning there will presumably be only one extra forward spot to spare. Barring a surprise like veteran enforcer Ross Johnston landing on waivers, there are essentially two roster spots up for grabs. Colangelo will be in the group of players competing for them, as will Washe, veteran NHL/AHL tweener Jansen Harkins, Nikita Nesterenko, and 2024 No. 3 overall pick Beckett Sennecke, among others.
Washe, who turns 24 later this month, was an undrafted free agent pickup by the Ducks just a few months ago. The 6’3″ center had a breakout graduate season for Western Michigan in 2024-25, serving as their captain and posting a 16-22–38 scoring line in 42 games with a +22 rating en route to the program’s first national championship. He was only eligible for a one-year entry-level deal given his age, though, so he became a restricted free agent only a few weeks after signing his first NHL deal.
The Michigan native played two games for the Ducks to close out last season, going 4-for-8 on faceoffs with two shots and four hits while averaging 7:44 per game. His path to an everyday NHL role will presumably be as a fourth-line center, a position Anaheim has seemingly set in stone for next season after acquiring Ryan Poehling from the Flyers in exchange for Trevor Zegras. That makes his chances of cracking the roster slimmer than his former collegiate teammate’s, but there’s still a pathway for him to do so.
Both players will be restricted free agents again when their deals are up in 2027.