TST Season Preview: Young Anaheim Ducks seek improvement, 'meaningful games'

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks will look to finally begin their climb back up from their rebuilding period, as they open the 2024-25 season on Saturday with a road trip to their Pacific Division rival, the San Jose Sharks.

Early last season, Anaheim seemed to have taken that promising step forward, with with early results from their young core for a six-game winning streak and wins in eight of 10 games to post a 9-6-0 mark through the first 15 games of the season. However, the Ducks followed that stretch with eight consecutive losses and 13 losses in 15 games, and paired with injuries at various points to veterans Radko Gudas and Alex Killorn and budding stars Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov--a total of 304 man-games lost across the entire roster last season--the Ducks fell below .500 for the remainder of their first campaign under head coach Greg Cronin.

The Ducks finished with the second-worst season in franchise history having a win-loss record of 27-50-5 for just 59 points last year. Their worst came the season before with a record of 23-47-12 for 58 points.

Over the last six years, the Ducks have failed to reach the playoffs and have had six consecutive losing seasons, the longest streak in franchise history.

As they are looking to move past these woes, Anaheim has been in the midst of a rebuild, but is looking to come to the end of it. With the Ducks missing out on some big free agency swings in the offseason, they will feature a roster that features plenty of young talent across the ice.

As of right now, the Ducks top line alone will likely include 2023 No. 2 overall pick Leo Carlsson in his second season at center flanked on his left by 2022 No. 5 overall pick Cutter Gauthier, who will make his highly anticipated full-season debut was traded to the Ducks last season from Philadelphia. Second-year defenseman Jackson LaCombe is also projected to be on the top defensive pair. This young group will be buoyed by veterans Alex Killorn at right wing and newly named team captain Radko Gudas on defense.

There are 12 players 25-and-under on the Ducks roster, including three players 23-and-under and another four players 20-and-under.

Lukáš Dostál, 24, is one of those young players that will look to take the Ducks forward, as he opens the season as Anaheim's starting goalie. The Czech netminder will carry the bulk of the load early, as veteran John Gibson will be out at least another one to four weeks due to an emergency appendectomy surgery that he had in September. Dostál and Gibson were expected to split duties before the surgery. Journeyman goalie James Reimer, who was claimed off waivers from Buffalo on Monday, will back-up Dostál.

As the young core gets its increase in minutes and responsibilities, Anaheim's success will be determined on their steps forward. Focus will also be on Cronin in his second year behind the bench. Cronin demanded a strong work ethic and accountability last season, but as penalties again beleaguered the team, the Ducks need to reign and be disciplined to find their way forward.

At the beginning of training camp, general manager Pat Verbeek told the assembled media, "I want us to be playing meaningful games and be in the hunt to make the playoffs."

With this young group, the playoffs may still be a ways off, but competitiveness and improvement are musts for Anaheim.

Below is how the Ducks depth chart is projected to look when the puck drops tonight against the Sharks:

Forwards

Cutter Gauthier - Leo Carlsson - Alex Killorn

Trevor Zegras - Mason McTavish - Robby Fabbri

Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry

Brock McGinn - Isac Lundestrom - Brett Leason

(Ross Johnston)

Defensemen

Jackson LaCombe - Radko Gudas

Cam Fowler - Tristan Luneau

Pavel Mintyukov - Brian Dumoulin

(Urho Vaakanainen - Olen Zellweger)

Goaltenders

Lukáš Dostál

James Reimer

Cutter Gauthier Calder trophy favorite

In one of the biggest moves before last year's trade deadline, Gauthier was traded to the Ducks by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Gauthier was originally drafted as the fifth overall pick out of Boston College by the Flyers in the 2022 NHL draft.

After failing to sign his rookie deal with the Flyers, Philadelphia traded his rights away to Anaheim in exchange for Jamie Drysdale, who was a sixth overall selection by the Ducks in 2020.

Before the preseason began, Gauthier was ranked as a potential candidate to win the Calder trophy, highlighting the NHL's rookie of the year.

Gauthier is just only 20 years old and is coming off an incredible season at Boston College last year, where he led the NCAA with 38 goals--the most in the college ranks since 2006--and added 27 assists for 65 points. After being traded to Anaheim last season, he played in just one game for the Ducks following his season at Boston College. Gauthier notched an assist in the season finale in Vegas.

Throughout the preseason, Gauthier has primarily seen playing time with the Ducks' first line and has already started to find a connection with Carlsson, who had a great rookie season last year with the Ducks.

Aside from the connection with Carlsson, Gauthier also showed Ducks fans his ability to be clutch in key moments. In Anaheim's last preseason game of the year, Gauthier had a shootout winner against the Sharks, giving them a 3-2 victory.

With Gauthier making his full-season debut this year, he will be one of the many young and exciting players to be featured with this team.

Announcements over the offseason

Over the offseason, the Ducks made two big announcements. The first was the official rebrand of the team, embracing their home of Southern California with the slogan "You're entering Orange County".

Following the new slogan, the Ducks have also gone ahead and redesigned their uniforms by updating the team's Mighty Ducks logo from 1993-2006 but changing the color scheme from the original jade and purple to current orange and black, with a home uniform that is all orange--including helmets, pants and socks--with hints of gold trim.. 

For road games, the uniform will look similar to the home uniform, the pants will remain orange but will feature a white helmet, with a blend of orange across the shoulders and near the forearms.

The newly rebranded Ducks look should have fans excited as it is a blend of past and present, bringing back one of the most iconic logos from the '90s into professional sports. The Ducks will also feature the classic duck webbed-foot D into the uniform as a secondary logo sitting on top of the players shoulders.

Another big announcement that was made over the offseason was the team announced Radko Gudas as the team's captain coming into the season.

He is the ninth captain in franchise history and is the first to wear the "C" on his chest since Ryan Getzlaf did from 2010-22.

Gudas is entering his 13th season in the NHL, second with the Ducks, and will be a captain for the first time in his career.

Last year, Gudas signed a three-year $12 million deal with the Ducks and made an immediate impact with his presence last year.

Playing for four different teams before the Ducks, he has been around plenty of hockey royalty in his career, including playing alongside names like Alex Ovechkin, Claude Giroux, and Steven Stamkos.

Appearing in 66 games last season, he led the team in +/- at +14. He also ranked third in time-on-ice per game at 19:30 and third for average shifts per game (23.9).