IRVINE, Calif. – Anaheim Ducks training camp began with a forever-and-a-day defenseman open to a trade, a longtime goalie who should be traded. and a flashy fan-favorite forward still very much around, even if much of the hockey universe believes he eventually will be traded.
Everything else is hunky dory.
The Ducks don’t lack for drama, that’s for sure. Ever flawed and ever interesting, they’ve been at or near the bottom of the standings for years now, with rosters full of intriguing parts yet mostly failing as a collective unit. They’ve been on a rebuilding path, but now victories are needed to provide evidence that the plan is working.
Shouldn’t a team with toolsy talents such as Trevor Zegras and Leo Carlsson, goal-scorers such as Frank Vatrano and Troy Terry, young beacons like Mason McTavish and Pavel Mintyukov, sage veterans such as Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas, and franchise mainstays such as Cam Fowler and John Gibson win more than 27 games? This isn’t a club bereft of ability. But it’s also had a scarcity of team triumphs.
That’s left them as a team in transition during this building process. Trades may indeed be in their future. It is just a matter of when they’ll go down. Let’s look at five pressing questions during training camp for the Ducks, who could be changing on the fly as the season goes on.
Will the trade talk around Fowler be a distraction?
Not if the franchise’s highest-scoring defenseman can help it. The Ducks and Fowler are looking at a potential trade as being mutually beneficial. When that might happen is anyone’s guess, with general manager Pat Verbeek saying Friday that he’s maintained dialogue with Fowler and his agent, Pat Brisson. “If there’s any situation that makes sense to either Cam or to the hockey club, then we’ll explore something,” Verbeek said. “And if it doesn’t, he’s here. He’s fully committed to the Anaheim Ducks.”
Before he signed an eight-year extension in 2017, Fowler often heard his name in trade rumors. That experience is coming in handy now. “I’ve been through something like this before, so I understand what it takes to kind of block out some of the distraction,” he told The Athletic. “But at the end of the day, I’m here committed to being the best I can for this team. At the end of the day, that’s all just background noise. There’s a good relationship between myself and Pat. We’ve had good communication with one another.”
Fowler, who’s entering his 15th season, isn’t the only one with trade speculation dancing around him. The Ducks and Gibson are also believed to be quite open to a separation, but the combination of term and money left on his contract, and his declining numbers in net, have made it tough to move the goalie. Then there is Zegras, one of the most inventive players in the NHL, who has had to fend off suggestions that he isn’t the type of player Verbeek wants as a long-term leading piece.
Can a Zegras-McTavish-Terry line work?
These are three prominent players that the Ducks would love to see level up. Terry is the oldest at 27, but that’s still prime age territory, and while he’s had two 20-goal seasons since his 37-goal bust-out in 2021-22, he’s also been on a downward slope. Zegras, 23, didn’t build on his impressive rookie season and is now coming off a difficult injury-riddled campaign. McTavish, 21, had better on-average numbers but backslid defensively and missed a chunk of time with his own injury.
But the three offer great possibilities. Terry might be who he is at this point, but Zegras and McTavish have more runway as potential high-performing players. Time will tell if they even emerge from camp together. The one question that comes with these playmakers is this: Is one puck enough for all three? Terry believes they can be a dangerous line, provided they build chemistry. A lot of that, he said, is knowing how and when to get open for each other.
“With all three of us, you know there’s that threat of scoring off the rush,” Terry said. “Making sure we’re all maybe being a little selfish in shooting the puck instead of that extra play is a big thing. But I think with me and Z, and then when you throw Mac in there, it’s just his body and his strength and being able to play down low, it kind of just adds that whole other element. I think we can be dangerous playing with the puck and cycling and really having sustained o-zone time.”
How will their two goalies share the workload?
For years now, Gibson has been the unchallenged incumbent. The 31-year-old wanted to work often and did, getting 68 percent of the starts over a six-year stretch from 2017-18 to 2022-23. That changed in 2023-24, and perhaps there could be a significant shift, with Lukáš Dostál continuing to progress as a reliable starter.
Dostál’s 3.33 goals-against average doesn’t exactly scream high-level NHL netminding. But the 24-year-old made a career-high 38 starts next to Gibson’s 44, and his .902 save percentage outdid Gibson’s .888. While Dostál made 5.3 fewer saves than expected (per MoneyPuck), it was much better than Gibson’s 9.6. Add in his spectacular turn at the World Championships, in helping lead Czechia to the gold medal, and you have a young goalie pushing for a true time share in net — if not vying for more.
While at the Worlds, Dostál said he had a conversation with former NHL goalie Ondrej Pavelec about the experiences of being a lead goalie and about developing into that role in North America. “Now I feel ready,” he said. “The same applies here. You need to live throughout the experience to feel ready. Just excited for the upcoming season and how everything turns out. Whenever I get the chance to play, I’m going to make sure I’ll be ready and be there for the boys to help them win.”
Which defenseman gets to run the power play?
It isn’t as if the Ducks don’t have options. But who will take charge in directing things from atop their formations on the first and second units? And will that lead conductor from the blue line help lift a power play that converted only 17.9 percent of their opportunity to rank 25th last season? Consider that 21 of the 32 teams were at 20 percent or better on the man advantage.
Fowler has long been on the PP1, but those days may be numbered, even if he’s with the club all season. He still got the most time among their defenseman last season, but Mintyukov and then Olen Zellweger got regular turns running it. Last season, Mintyukov had seven power-play assists among his 28 points, and he could boost his production if he grabs the lead role. Zellweger is a splendid skater with a terrific shot and has a knack for getting it past penalty-killers to the net.
Tristan Luneau is also in the mix as a right-hand shot candidate, if he wins a job out of camp. In an age of four-forward deployments, there isn’t as much opportunity for defensemen. And when Zegras or Carlsson is on the ice, the power play often runs through them. But the d-man still has a crucial role in it. Is this the time when the Ducks turn it over completely to the youngsters?
Can they make it to opening night in good health?
Vatrano was the only Ducks player to appear in all 82 games on the way to a 37-goal, All-Star season. Fowler and Jakob Silfverberg only missed one contest. Terry and Strome only sat out a handful. But it felt as though the Ducks rarely had all hands on deck through the 2023-24 season.
A groin injury and broken ankle contributed to Zegras missing 51 games. Carlsson didn’t dress in 27, sitting out occasionally under the Ducks’ first-half load-management plan but also missing chunks due to a knee sprain and concussion. A broken finger and minor knee surgery kept Killorn out of 19 games. Gudas, Mintyukov and McTavish all missed 16 games or more due to injury. It’s hard to maintain continuity with a group that’s continually short-handed, not by one or two but by a few.
It isn’t a good omen that Mintyukov hasn’t practiced yet as he deals with a lower-body injury, but Verbeek believes he’s two weeks away from resuming action. But the 20-year-old is the only projected regular who has been sidelined so far. Depth forward Brock McGinn is also healthy after missing most of last season due to a disc issue that required surgery. Isac Lundestrom, who figures to center the fourth line, comes into this year at full strength after a torn Achilles cost him the first half of last season.
(Photo of Cam Fowler: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
