Ducks’ Will Francis Signs AHL Tryout
Ducks defense prospect Will Francis has signed an amateur tryout with AHL San Diego for the remainder of the season, the team announced. The 2019 sixth-round pick will get his first taste of professional hockey after four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
It’s been an incredibly trying road for Francis, 24, to get to this point. After playing out his post-draft season with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He’s now entered remission three separate times in the last five years, keeping him sidelined for the entire 2020-21 campaign and the vast majority of the 2021-22, 2023-24, and 2024-25 campaigns. After beginning his third round of cancer treatments in October, he returned to play for the Bulldogs on March 8 and suited up in one of their NCHC quarterfinal losses to Arizona State.
A hard-nosed shutdown defenseman, the 6’5″, 216-lb Francis totaled one assist and 29 PIMs with a minus-six rating in 39 games for Duluth. Before his diagnosis, he posted 3-11–14 with a plus-nine rating across 69 major junior games with Cedar Rapids. While Francis’ NHL signing rights will lapse on Aug. 15, he’ll still get at least a few games within the Ducks organization.
Back in 2022, the Ducks’ website put together a profile on Francis during a development camp appearance with the club that’s more than worth the read. All of us at PHR wish him health as he takes the next step in his career.
Snapshots: Hurricanes, Askarov, Soderblom, Greentree, Francis
It appears that the Hurricanes will get some help on the injury front as they begin a three-game road trip on Thursday in San Jose. Team reporter Walt Ruff mentions (Twitter link) that defenseman Dmitry Orlov should be ready to return after missing the last two weeks with an upper-body injury. The 33-year-old has four goals and 20 assists in 62 games this season while logging a little under 20 minutes a night.
Meanwhile, the news isn’t as good for winger Andrei Svechnikov. Ruff added that it wasn’t initially known if the 24-year-old would be accompanying the team on the trip. Last week, the hope was that Svechnikov would be back for the Hurricanes sometime this week but that appears to be more in question now. He has 18 goals and 25 assists in 63 outings this season.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov is hoping to be cleared to skate with the AHL’s Barracuda next week as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has a 3.10 GAA and a .896 SV% in 13 games with the Sharks this season and is likely to be recalled at some point down the stretch to get a few more games in with the big club.
- It has been a rough go as of late for Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom. He has won just one of his last ten games while posting a SV% of just .881, 20 points below his mark for the season at .901. Despite that, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that at the moment, the team is still operating under the plan that he’ll serve as Spencer Knight’s backup for next season. Soderblom will be owed a $1MM qualifying offer this summer with salary arbitration rights and with 82 NHL games now under his belt, it’s possible that Chicago could feel the risk of a hearing is too great. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to work on getting him signed before the tender deadline in June.
- Kings prospect Liam Greentree was suspended for two games today by the OHL for a checking from behind incident on Sunday, the league announced (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was the 26th pick last June and sits tied for second in the league in points (with 119) while being fourth in goals (49) and second in assists (70). Windsor only has two games remaining in the regular season so he won’t be able to move up those leaderboards even further.
- Ducks prospect Will Francis will join AHL San Diego for their stretch run, reports Matt Wellens of the Duluth News-Tribune. The 24-year-old blueliner was a sixth-round pick back in 2019, going 163rd overall. Francis is a three-time cancer survivor, missing time in three of his four collegiate campaigns at the University of Minnesota-Duluth due to the illness, limiting him to just 39 games overall, five of which came this season.
Snapshots: Landeskog, Francis, Hurricanes, Maccelli
Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog skated before practice today, notes Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now. The captain hasn’t played since the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final back in 2022 due to continued knee trouble including a cartilage transplant in May 2023. While this isn’t the first time Landeskog has taken to the ice before practice, it’s the first time he has done so since mid-November as he suffered a setback at that time. There remains no timetable for him to return but Landeskog has noted a few times this year that he hopes to get back into the Colorado lineup at some point this season.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The University of Minnesota-Duluth announced (Twitter link) that Ducks prospect Will Francis had a relapse of his leukemia which is why he has been limited to just three games so far this season. Francis was initially diagnosed with it in 2020 and had a relapse in August 2023, leading to a bone marrow transplant back in April. Francis is hoping to return to the team next month. PHR wishes Francis well in his continued battle.
- The Hurricanes announced that defenseman Riley Stillman has been sent back to AHL Chicago. The 26-year-old has been sent back and forth this season but hasn’t seen any action with Carolina. Stillman has four points in nine contests with the Wolves. Meanwhile, Carolina has also recalled goalie Dustin Tokarski, defenseman Ty Smith, and winger Jackson Blake from Chicago, per the AHL transactions log. The three were papered to the minors on Wednesday.
- Utah announced (Twitter link) that winger Matias Maccelli was scratched from tonight’s game against Calgary due to an illness. After putting up 57 points last season, the 24-year-old has struggled mightily offensively this year, potting just three goals and seven assists through his first 37 outings. There was some good news on the health front, however, as Clayton Keller returned after missing Tuesday’s game to an illness himself.