With the arrival of the month of September, the hockey world begins stirring from it’s summer-long slumber as training camps come into view on the calendar’s horizon. So while National Hockey League franchises haven’t exactly locked up their rosters at this point, it is time for Arctic Ice Hockey’s season preview articles nonetheless.
I have fired up my BigOl’JetAirliner to do a recon of each and every team the Winnipeg Jets will have to face in the upcoming campaign. When the wheels eventually touch back down in good ol’ River Heights, I hope to have a good idea of our competition’s key players/prospects, their strengths & weaknesses, and the overall depth of each franchise. To assist with that last topic, I opted to use the projected line ups provided by DailyFaceOff.com but since the visual display of the lines was better on PuckPedia, I ended up using that site to create the graphics included in the articles. Thanks to both of those helpful sites.
I figured that we might as well check out the Jets’ competitors out in alphabetic order and hope to conclude my trip before we get to October, so check back here regularly over the next few weeks for more team previews. Alright, hop on board and lets get started by heading to California….
ANAHEIM DUCKS:
The Ducks finished with the 3rd worst record in the league last season (27-50-5), unsurprising for a franchise in the midst of a long rebuild. Case in point, Anaheim hasn’t made the playoffs since Randy Carlyle was the man behind the bench and that was seven seasons ago.
The franchise had difficulty beating opposing goaltenders last year, barely clearing the 200 goal mark on the season to finish with the NHL’s 3rd worst total (204). Stopping their rivals from scoring wasn’t a strength either since they allowed the 3rd most markers in the league (295). Head coach Greg Cronin’s first season obviously didn’t see much success on the ice with a -91 goal differential (3rd worst), but the excitement of having a bunch of young talented prospects in the fold seems to have re-energized the fan base. With the Ducks’ highest average attendance in years (15,687), people are starting to lay out their hard-earned money to watch the young “ducklings”.
Anaheim has had a selection in the top 10 overall of the past six entry drafts and at least four of those players will be making an impact for them at the NHL level in the upcoming season. One of the two players not expected to be with the big club in 2024-25 is their most recent high draft pick. The 3rd overall selection in 2024, Beckett Sennecke, will continue his development in the OHL for another season with the Oshawa Generals. The other high selection who won’t be directly helping the Ducks is the 6th overall pick in 2020 Jamie Drysdale…..but he did allow GM Pat Verbeek to trade for another high-quality prospect who will in Cutter Gauthier (5th overall in 2022).
The eldest of those prospects expected to be wearing Anaheim’s jersey is Trevor Zegras (9th overall in 2019), who already has two 60 point seasons to his credit in hockey’s highest league. However, the young forward struggled with injuries and production in 2023-24 (15 pts in 31 gms) and has possibly fallen out of favour with the coaching staff due to a lack of defensive responsibility. Mason McTavish was the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft and will be entering his third NHL season this year. After putting up 17 goals & 43 pts in his rookie campaign, the 21 yr old center ended up missing some time last season but still managed to produce well (42 pts in 64 gms). The 10th selection of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, defenseman Pavel Mintyukov made his debut last season (28 pts in 63 gms) and the left-handed Russian will continue to play a key role on Anaheim’s backend in 2024-25. The 2nd overall selection in 2023 led the Ducks to obtain the rights to Leo Carlsson and the young Swede instantly made the leap to the big league (29 pts in 55 gms). The 19 yr old 6’3″ center has the potential to take a big step in his development as he is expected to continue to see prime top six minutes.
Despite sprinkling veterans like Alex Killorn (36 pts in 63 gms), Troy Terry (54 pts in 76 gms), Frank Vatrano (60 pts in 82 gms), Cam Fowler (39 pts in 81 gms), & Radko Gudas (18 pts in 66 gms) throughout the lineup, the Anaheim Ducks should still be one of the NHL’s youngest squads during the 2024-25 campaign. Here is a potential opening day lineup….
Potential Line Up
When there is a possibility of having proven NHL producers like Ryan Strome (41 pts in 71 gms) & McTavish on the 3rd line, Anaheim appears to have plenty of scoring talent this season. I could easily see the Ducks have as many as 8 forwards clear the 40 point range with the above lineup, but success will only come with improved 2 way play throughout the lineup. 24 yr old Isac Lundestrom played pretty close to break even hockey (goals for/against) in 46 contests last season and he could play an important role in Anaheim’s bottom six. There will obviously be the expected growing pains throughout the year, however I think the Californian franchise will be expecting a much better offensive campaign in 2024-25.
It is the other end of the ice that could hinder Anaheim’s playoff ambitions, as that is where most of their question marks lie. Starting in the crease, 31 yr old John Gibson failed to even hit the .900 save percentage mark for the second straight season, so the team’s hopes may rely more on 24 yr old Lukas Dostal. The Czech goalie put up a .902 save % over 44 contests in his sophomore campaign and will be a key factor in whether the Ducks are able to exit their long rebuild this year. Or does the veteran tender have a resurgence in him after a pretty horrific .888 save percentage? They will need both goalies to provide quality starts if they have any chance at grabbing one of the Western Conference’s wildcard spots.
While I am high on the young defensive prospects like Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, & Jackson LaCombe, I am not really sure the veteran blueliners will be able to cover up for all the expected learning curve mistakes. Fowler has proven to be a 40 pt scorer from the backend, but when he was on the ice last season Anaheim allowed 66.4% of the goals scored (33.6 Goals For %). At least Gudas will provide strong defensive play for the Ducks, as his impressive 52.9 GF% in his first season with the team proves. The 34 yr old defenseman also brings a level of toughness that will be helpful in protecting such a youthful squad. Zellweger was very productive at the AHL level in his rookie season (37 pts in 44 gms), but the sailing wasn’t as smooth when he was with the Ducks. His 9 pts in 26 NHL games was fine, but a 37.5 GF% tells us that Anaheim was seriously losing the goal battle while he was on the ice. The 23 yr old LaCombe also struggled with goals for/against last season (38.3 GF%), so management is hoping that the addition of Brian Dumoulin can provide some stability to the 3rd pairing. The veteran is coming off a bit of a down year with the Penguins, but had consistently won the GF% battle in the four prior seasons with Pittsburgh.
PROBABLE FATE:
While I do expect to see signs of growth from the Ducks’ youth, it probably will only help enough to surpass one or two of their divisional rivals in the standings and fall well short of the wildcard race. That doesn’t mean Anaheim fans should despair, because the team is starting their rise from the ashes of a rebuild and there should be better days ahead.
Despite making strides and being an entertaining team to watch, the Anaheim Ducks front office will probably have to watch their team finish in the bottom 10 once again in 2024-25. Should that happen, management will have to consider cashing in on pending UFA Vatrano at the deadline, with the veteran forward having the potential of being one of the more sought after additions. I guess Dumoulin also could come in play for a team looking to add depth to their defense prior to the post-season.
If I was a Ducks’ fan, I would consider it a successful campaign if I saw marked improvement from the teams’ future young stars…both in the NHL and elsewhere.
UP NEXT: The Boston Bruins…..
Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this off-season.
