The Anaheim Ducks announced their rookie camp and Rookie Faceoff roster on Sept. 3.
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Rookie camp will begin on Thursday, Sept. 13 at Great Park Ice in Irvine, CA, and game one of three in the 10-team Rookie Faceoff for the Ducks is scheduled for Sept 14 at 3:30 pm, where they’ll take on the rookies from the Colorado Avalanche in El Segundo, CA.
In the three drafts since general manager Pat Verbeek took over the reins in the Anaheim front office, the Ducks have made 26 selections, including 16 in the first three rounds.
Despite several of those players having “graduated” to full-time NHL duty, the Ducks will still ice a deep and talented crop of rookies this weekend.
2024 23rd overall pick Stian Solberg, 2024 36th overall pick Lucas Pettersson, and 2023 60th overall pick Damian Clara are all designated to play the 2024-25 season in Europe and won’t be attending rookie camp, the Rookie Faceoff, or Ducks training camp.
Due to the star power up and down the roster, a case can be made to watch nearly every young player closely, but let’s take a look at three of the most intriguing young Ducks at rookie camp and the Rookie Faceoff:
*On Sept. 5, the Ducks announced injuries to goaltender Tomas Suchanek and forward Beckett Sennecke. Suchanek had successful surgery to repair a ruptured ACL and is expected to miss six to eight months, likely the entire 2024-25 season. Sennecke fractured his foot during offseason training and his timetable to return was set for six to eight weeks.
Gauthier (20) was a Hobey Baker finalist for his impressive sophomore season at Boston College in 2023-24, he’s the only player on the Ducks rookie roster expected to play the entire 2024-25 season in the NHL and is a top-five favorite to win the Calder Trophy.
All indications point toward Gauthier dominating this tournament and separating himself at rookie camp. He should drive play, dictate pace, and produce at will against his peers.
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The more intriguing aspect of watching Gauthier at rookie camp will be observing what kind of leadership role he assumes.
“Cutter said right away, ‘I want to be a leader for the guys who are experiencing camp for the first time,'” San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said following Ducks development camp. “For someone new to the organization to jump in and take on that responsibility right away, I applauded him for it. I said, ‘Hey let’s build on that,’ because that’s what he will be and is for the organization as a leader.”
Gauthier is listed as a left winger on the Ducks roster, but primarily played center during the past two seasons at Boston College and with Team USA’s U20 team. It will be worth monitoring whether he will take any shifts down the middle during rookie camp or if he’s simply destined for the wing.
The Ducks took a calculated approach to Luneau’s development in the 2023-24 season, but was mostly for not, as he missed the majority of it with an infection in his knee.
After winning the QMJHL Defenseman of the Year award in 2022-23, Luneau (20) made the Ducks opening night roster in 2023-24. He was to observe life as a professional while playing sporadically for both the Ducks and Gulls during the first part of the season before joining Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in Sweden in late Dec.
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He played seven games for the Ducks, notching a goal and two assists, and played six games for the Gulls in the AHL, adding a pair of assists.
On the trip to Sweden, Luneau’s knee became infected and he was shut down for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
He partook in the “SoFlo” summer hockey league in Florida during offseason training with several Ducks young players and all indications point toward his full recovery from his knee injury.
Luneau is expected to be among the first NHL call-ups should the opportunity arise, but making the Ducks opening night roster shouldn’t be ruled out for the right-shot defenseman.
Rodwin Dionicio
Dionicio (20) was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft from the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, his second year of draft eligibility.
Since then, Dionicio represented Switzerland at the 2024 World Junior Championship, scoring four points in five games, and in the OHL season, he was traded to the eventual Memorial Cup-winning Saginaw Spirit, where he finished the season with 20 goals and 53 points in his final 44 games.
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He led Saginaw in scoring during their OHL playoff run with 17 points in 17 games and tacked on five points in five games en route to their Memorial Cup victory.
In Jan., Dionicio announced he was to play the 2024-25 season in Switzerland’s National League for EHC Biel-Bienne. However, on May 17, the Ducks announced they’d signed Dionicio to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2024-25 season.
The Swiss NL season is set to begin on Sept. 17, so it seems Dionicio will play his 2024-25 season in North America, likely in the AHL.
The criticism of Dionicio’s game will always be tied to his skating. He isn’t the smoothest or fastest skater, nor does he possess particularly strong four-way mobility, but his puck skills, creativity, and hockey IQ are well above average.
“He’s got better awareness now in the defensive zone,” Ducks director of player development Jim Johnson said. “His lateral mobility and agility is getting better and now he’s working on understanding how to create physical relationships earlier, closing quickly in the defensive zone and being a little bit more under control.”
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