Ducks Dynasty

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Ducks draft recap:
Anaheim cleans up on day one drop offs

13th OA: Conor Geekie (C)
51st OA: Denton Mateychuk (D)
64th OA: Tyler Duke (D)
76th OA: Nathan Gauncher (C)
128th OA: Vyacheslav Kaminsky (D)
152nd OA: Saul Petersen (D)
160th OA: Kevin Korchinski (D)
163rd OA: Tyler Brennan (G)

After Conor Geekie was chosen on day one of the NHL draft, they continued to bolster their farm system with a number of high ceiling choices on day two. Mateychuk, projected to go in the first round, slid to the Ducks where they chose him with the 51st overall selection.

Duke, a defenceman in the USHL this past season, will head to the University of Notre Dame for the upcoming campain.

While Mateychuk falling was a surprise, having Nathan Gauncher fall to 76th was an absolute shocker. A late season injury lowered his draft stock, but falling from consensus first rounder all the way to the 3rd round was something nobody saw coming.

Kaminsky, a Russian defenceman, marks only the 2nd Russian that the team has chosen since 2011.

Right handed defenceman Saul Petersen comes out of the USNTDP and will likely head to the NCAA for 2022.

Kevin Korchinski, another guy who many had on their mock drafts to go on day one, fell all the way to the 6th round. The Seattle Thunderbird defenceman put up a strong season, but question marks around his medicals saw him fall.

The Ducks final selection, Tyler Brennan, spent the past season splitting time between the pipes for the Prince George Cougars. Brennan has the size and speed to become an NHL goaltender, but has a long time line to even get a whiff of the NHL.

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Free Agency Primer

Ducks extend Terry, Zegras, Drysdale - Getzlaf to return

With the Anaheim Ducks looking like a potential major buyer on day one of free agency, GM Pat Verbeek got some heavy lifting done early.

Trevor Zegras (8 x $8 mil), Jamie Drysdale (8 x $5.25 mil) and Troy Terry (6 x $6.75 mil), all agreed to contract extension that will keep them with the Ducks for a long time.

Also signing, Ryan Getzlaf (1 x $2.75 mil), the Ducks franchise leader in almost every statistical category, will return as the Captain of the team, and will play in his 18th season as a Duck.

With a better idea of where they stand, the Pat Verbeek can now go into the free agency period with a clear direction.

Not ready to extend Comtois: Anaheim's point leader for the past season, Max Comtois, has 1 year remaining on his bridge deal. While there were some discussions about an extension, neither side put pen to paper on a finished product. They will likely revisit the possibility in training camp, but for now, the 23 year old will line up for RFA status next offseason.

Jaskin to remain in Anaheim: Dmitrij Jaskin, the power forward acquired at the deadline from the Arizona Coyotes, signs a 1 year, $1.75 million deal.

To spend, or not to spend: After announcing the extensions, GM Pat Verbeek discussed the teams offseason plan. He made it clear that while adding high end talent was a priority, maintaining cap flexibility for the long term was the most important thing for the club. "We know that fans would love to see us adding some of these bigger name guys, but we really feel that it's important for us to have a long term strategy when we're making signings. Free agency is certainly an exciting time, and we've got some cash in our wallet, but we really need to make sure that we aren't in a situation where we want to be in a cap-crunch every offseason.

Coming out of College: Sam Colangelo, the Ducks 2nd round selection in 2020, signed an entry level deal with the Ducks, and will be leaving Northeastern University to start his professional career.

Manson headlines Ducks heading to free agency: When Verbeek traded Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm at last years deadline, many were surprised to see veteran Josh Manson remain an a Ducks uniform. While the team had discussions with the defenceman regarding a possible extension, they were unable to agree on the terms of a new deal. Insiders report that Manson is seeking a 4 year contract, coming in at an average annual value nearing $5 million per season.

Also headed to free agency are trade deadline pick ups Reilly Smith, Andrej Sekera and Anton Stralman.

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Ducks strike on day 1 of Free Agency

Giroux, Letang among Anaheim's day 1 signings

Claude Giroux: 1 year @ $8.5 million
Kris Letang: 1 year @ $8.5 million
Ben Chiarot: 1 year @ $2.25 million

Claude Giroux and Kris Letang have been franchise cornerstones for the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins their entire careers, and now the two veterans will get the chance to play together for the first time.

Giroux (34) and Letang (35) will help solidify the Ducks roster, bringing a couple of responsible scoring threats to Anaheim.

"When Anaheim signed Scott Neidermeyer, it was the type of high-ceiling moves that raised expectations. Coming off a Stanley Cup championship that many were surprised to see, we knew that adding a perrenial Norris trophy candidate to the lineup was huge. We had some early discussions with Claude Giroux as well, and both were excited to get the opportunity to play together." -Ducks GM Pat Verbeek

Ben Chiarot, a mainstay on the Montreal Canadiens defence, was a surprise day 1 signing, as it seemingly removes the Ducks out of the Hampus Lindholm sweepstakes.

"Ben Chiarot brings a solid, veteran presence to our d-core. We know a lot of fans wanted to see Hampus back in our line up, but with Cam Fowler and Nick Hague already here, we felt like we could spend elsewhere."-Verbeek

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Manson signs!

Veteran defenceman signs two year deal to remain in Anaheim

Josh Manson has been a mainstay on the Ducks back end for nearly a decade. On Wednesday, after a multiple weeks on the market, he signed a two year deal with Anaheim, to remain in Southern California.

Manson, who starred for the Ducks during their playoff run last season, was reportedly seeking a 4 years deal in the neighbourhood of $20 million, but will return to the Ducks on a 2 year, $9 million deal.

"We're excited to retain Josh. He's a huge presence on our back end, and has been a leader for us for a lot of years. He's been a valuable mentor for Jamie Drysdale, and we're extremely happy to have him back." -Ducks GM Pat Verbeek

The signing continues a trend for the Ducks that sees them adding players on short term deals. With Drysdale and free agent signing Kris Letang already manning the right side, Manson looks like an expensive third pairing defenceman, but will most likely get the bulk of the penalty kill minutes for the Ducks.

Minor signings announced: Verbeek also announced the signings of minor league forwards Riley Tufte and Xavier Simoneau to one year deals.

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Ducks help Blues with cap space, bulk up farm system

Anaheim acquires top prospect Neighbours

Anaheim: Isac Lundestrom
St. Louis: Marco Scandella, Jake Neighbours

Young forward Isac Lundestrom, fresh off a shut down role for the Ducks on their playoff run, is heading to the St. Louis Blues. After signing a 3 year deal with an average annual value of $1.25 million, Lundestrom will offer a young, cost-controlled option for the Blues as they navigate a tight cap situation.

Heading to Anaheim will be 32 year old defenceman Marco Scandella, and top prospect Jake Neighbours.

Scandella, a veteran with over 700 NHL games under his belt, joins a crowded Ducks defence core, and will likely have to fight to even get in the lineup. He does offer a valuable safety blanket for the Ducks in case of injury though.

Neighbours, a star for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, will join a strong Ducks prospect pool, and will likely head to San Diego of the AHL to start his professional career. The 20 year old former 26th overall selection starred for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL this past season.

The biggest question marks coming from this will be regarding a potential shut down line for the Ducks. After moving Lundestrom and Silfverberg, Sonny Milano is all that remains of the Ducks 3rd line from this past playoff run.

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Verbeek gets high grades in first offseason

Strong draft, young stars extensions, high profile free agency acquistions highlight new GM's offseason

Draft day dynamo: Anaheim's GM solidified the Ducks farm system with a strong draft. While players like Korchinski, Gauncher and Mateychuk all fell far from where they were projected to go, they represent high ceiling, boom or bust type picks for Verbeek, something that wasn't typically seen under former GM Bob Murray.

Galymov signs: Artyom Galimov, the 5th round pick in 2020, has signed an ELC with the Ducks, and will likely head to San Diego. The 22 year old put up 20 goals and 22 assists in 40 games for Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL this past season.

Extensions galore: With a whole lot of question marks surrounding clubs future payroll, Verbeek was quick to lock up Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Jamie Drysdale to long term extensions. Drysdale's might have been the most surprising when it comes to the AAV, but it ends up being similar in comparison to Jacob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes.

Free agency fun: Claude Giroux and Kris Letang were two of the top free agents available, and both are now Anaheim Ducks after signing twin one year contracts. Also signing were Ben Chiarot and Riley Tufte, which built up to the return of Josh Manson, who signed a 2 year deal.

The short term, high AAV contracts were an interesting strategy for the Ducks, but it sets them up to continue to have flexibility moving forward.

Big trades help maintain farm system: The addition of Jake Neighbours, Raphael Lavoie, and Edmonton's 2023 1st round selection should help keep Anaheim near the top of the pre-season farm system rankings going into the fall.

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Ducks top 10 prospects heading into 2022-23 season

Anaheim maintains top 5 farm system ranking after major moves

1-Mason MacTavish (C): MacTavish continued to bolster his prospect status in his D+1 season, starring for Canada at the World Junior Championships. With the Ducks roster basically set going into the pre-season, it appears as though a spot in the NHL lineup is his to lose. (ETA: 2022)

2-Jake Neighbours (LW): Neighbours, acquired from the St. Louis Blues, also played a pivotal role for the Canadian team at the WJC. He may not be NHL-ready, but will begin his pro career in San Diego, and could see some time in the NHL if he gets off to a hot start. (ETA: 2023)

3-Aatu Raty (C/W): Raty, once considered the top prospect in the 2020 NHL draft, fell all the way to the second round before being picked by the New York Islanders. An ill fated trade for the Islanders saw them send their 1st round pick and Raty to the Ducks in exchange for Hampus Lindholm. A late season collapse by the Islanders saw the pick end up in the draft lottery, and Raty, their top prospect, end up in Anaheim with nothing to show. (ETA: 2023)

4-Conor Geekie (C): The 13th overall selection in this years draft, is 6'4'', 205 lb center that looks like the prototypical power forward that could one day replace Captain Ryan Getzlaf in the Ducks lineup. He'll head back to the WHL for this season. (ETA: 2024)

5-Lukas Dostal (G): Dostal's prospect status has continued to rise for the Ducks since being drafted in 2018. Back to back strong efforts for Ilves of the Finnish Liiga laid the foundation for the 21 year olds pro debut in during the 2020-21 season. While the numbers may not have stood out last year behind a questionable Gulls defence core, Dostal still has all of the makings of a future NHL starter. (ETA: 2023)

6-Jacob Perreault (RW): Perreault, the son of former NHLer Yannick, had a decent showing during his pro debut in San Diego. Armed with a great shot, he'll stay with the Gulls to start this season, mainly to work on his defensive game. (ETA: 2023)

7-Sasha Pastujov (LW/RW): After falling to the 3rd round in the 2021 draft because of questions around his skating, one of the most prolific scorers in USNTDP history continued to show his offensive upside with over a point per game in Guelph of the OHL. (ETA: 2024)

8-Jackson LaCombe (D): Lacombe played his junior season at the University of Minnesota this past year, and continued to show off the strong skating ability and excellent passing that saw him drafted in the 2nd round of 2019. He was expected to sign in the offseason, but could spend another year in the NCAA. While he could wait until next offseason to become a UFA, he made it clear that he wants to join the Ducks organization. (ETA: 2023)

9-Brayden Tracey (LW): Tracey's rookie season in San Diego saw many ups and downs, but the 2019 1st rounder continued to impress on an underwhelming Gulls team. (ETA: 2023)

10-Olen Zellweger (D): Zellweger, a 2021 2nd round pick, was a WJC all-star, showing off his offensive upside on the International stage. (ETA: 2024)

Honorable mention: Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Nathan Gauncher, Denton Mateychuk, Kevin Korchinski, Tyler Duke, Henry Thrun, Sam Colangelo, and Artyom Galimov all made extremely strong cases to be included in our top 10 (Especially Galimov), but it just shows the strength of the current Ducks system to have such highly rated prospects not even make the list. As guys like MacTavish graduate, expect to see them jump sooner rather than later. Groulx, who made a strong debut in the 2022 playoffs, has yet to show much in the way of offensive upside, but would easily be on the top 10 list for the vast majority of other organizations. He'll likely be on the opening night roster for the Ducks.

Graduation: Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysale

What's missing? When right handed defenceman David Jiricek was chosen by the Coyotes with the 12th overall pick in this years draft, it was likely a huge disappointment for those in the Ducks scouting department. Adding the near-NHL ready defenceman could have potentially created a dynamic 1-2 punch on the right side for years to come with Jamie Drysdale. There were rumors swirling when he fell out of the top 10 that the Ducks were trying to move up to take him, but they couldn't get any deals together, and "settled" for Geekie instead.

Looking forward: Anaheim has four picks in the first two rounds, including two in the first next year. With such a strong farm system, it will be interesting to see if they use some of their draft capital to upgrade their NHL lineup.

Way too early 2023 top prospect prediction: After a strong showing in 2021, Aatu Raty would be the safe bet here, but we predict that Conor Geekie will have a monster year for Winnipeg in the WHL. He's got the size, speed, and passing ability to absolutely dominate in the CHL.

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Ducks announce opening night roster

Neighbours, Dostal fail to crack the lineup, assigned to San Diego

Giroux-Zegras-Terry
MacTavish-Getlaf-Comtois
Henrique-Groulx-Milano
Tufte-Steel-Jaskin

Fowler-Drysdale
Hague-Letang
Chiarot-Manson

Gibson
Smith

Scratches: Scandella, Carrick

Backup battle: A mild injury in game one of the pre-season to Conn Smythe winner John Gibson gave the Ducks an opportunity to see Mike Smith and Lukas Dostal battle for the backup position. While neither were overwhelmingly good, neither was particularly bad, with Mike Smith earning the backup role to start the season. Dostal, who put up better numbers that Smith during the pre-season, could have found his way onto the roster, but will benefit from a more regular schedule in the AHL.

MacTavish earns spot: with a goal and two assists in the pre-season, Mason MacTavish earned a longer look in the Ducks lineup. The expectation is that he'll stick for the entire season, but if he falters, he could be heading back to the OHL.

Rico-down: Adam Henrique spent the entirety of last season on the second line, but will start this season as part of a shutdown line with Sonny Milano and B-O Groulx.

Top 4 D: It may seem weird to see Kris Letang's name in the second pairing, but the expectation is that the team will balance the top 4's ice time this year.

Waiver loss: Connor Clifton was a waiver pick up late last season, and stole a spot in the lineup during the second round of the playoffs. After scoring a goal and adding an assist in 14 playoff games, but having lost his position by due to the acquisition of Chiarot, Letang and Scandella, GM Pat Verbeek felt that he had earned an opportunity to see if there was another taker on the waiver wire. The St. Louis Blues stepped up, and will have him for $1 million this year, which is the final year of his contract.

Galimov impresses: When Artyum Galimov signed his ELC with the Ducks this past season, coming over after a strong KHL season, an NHL roster spot was a long shot. A strong pre-season showing almost earned him an opening night roster spot, however he was assigned to the Gulls to ease his transition to the smaller ice surface.