Thoughts and Predictions on the Pacific Division
6. Anaheim Ducks
Last season the Ducks finished the year with 59 points which placed them seventh in the Pacific division.
This year I think the Ducks should be a pretty fun team to watch. This offseason they added Brian Dumoulin and Robby Fabbri. They also had the third overall pick in this past year's draft where they took Beckett Sennecke. Sennecke isn't currently in the roster projections for the squad and we probably won't see him this season in the NHL.
They lost former Leaf William Lagesson, Max Jones and Benoit-Oliver Groulx.
I'm looking forward to seeing what this forward core can do. The 2023 second overall pick, Leo Carlsson is projected to be the first-line centre. He had a solid rookie year last year where he played 55 games scoring 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points.
In a year where playoffs aren't in the cards, the Ducks need to see another step in his development this year for it to be successful. Another big storyline is how Cutter Gauthier will perform in his rookie year following the public falling-out with the Philadelphia Flyers, leading to his trade to Anaheim. They also have Mason McTavish who had a good year last year. They also have solid NHLers in Troy Terry, Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome.
There have been trade rumours around Trevor Zegras for a long time now but nothing has materialized.
The blue line isn't very strong but it would be big to see some steps from Ollen Zellweger who split time between the NHL and the AHL last season. He was very effective in the AHL where he played 44 games, scoring 12 goals and 25 assists for a total of 37 points (stats from AHL.com). He had 26 games in the NHL where he scored two goals and seven assists for nine points.
The 2022 10th overall pick Pavel Mintyukov is entering his sophomore season after playing 63 games, scoring four goals and 24 assists for a total of 28 points. Both Zellweger and Mintyukov taking steps in their development would be huge for the organization. The Ducks also have some veterans on that defence core to help insulate their rookies with Cam Fowler, Radko Gudas and Brain Dumoulin.
John Gibson has been in trade talks for what feels like forever now but nobody has taken on his contract yet. Lukas Dostal is a young goalie who had a good year posting a .902 save percentage, -1.05 goals saved above average, and a 2.79 goals saved above expected (Stats from EvolvingHockey.com). Their goaltending situation is interesting but they're going to have a lot of work behind this team.
The Ducks will improve from last year and I look forward to see their young talent. They will finish sixth in the Pacific division.