The Hockey News Anaheim Ducks End of Summer Mailbag

Rookie and training camps are just around the corner in the NHL, followed by the 2024-25 NHL season shortly after.

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As the Ducks look to turn the corner on their rebuild, we asked for reader questions for our end-of-summer mailbag. We got to as many as we could in the video portion of this piece and will answer the rest below:

From Paul C:

Will Sam Colangelo make the squad or go down to the Gulls?

Patrick: Barring an injury, I wouldn’t expect Colangelo to make the Ducks opening night roster, but I’m not ruling it out by any means. The current roster listed on PuckPedia seems relatively set. Colangelo adapted well to the strength and speed of the NHL game in his brief three-game stint.

Still, for the sake of his development, it may benefit him to play a significant role in the AHL to start the season rather than linger at the bottom of the Ducks forward depth chart.

That is unless he blows the coaching staff and front office away in camp and preseason to the point where he’s an undeniable top-nine player.

Derek: I think Colangelo has the inside track for a spot in the bottom-6 over players like Pavol Regenda and Nikita Nesterenko. He played well down in San Diego before coming up to Anaheim and immediately had an instant impact in his first NHL game.

Like Jackson LaCombe, I could see a similar path for Colangelo where he plays all four years in college with a brief NHL stint after his senior year before playing full-time in the NHL the following season.

From Kynn K:

How many more goals can the Ducks score with the existing roster this season?

Patrick: The Ducks scored 203 goals last season and 206 the year before. Adding Cutter Gauthier, one of the more natural pure goalscoring rookies the NHL has seen in recent years, for the entire 2024-25 season should prove an upgrade within the forward group in that department.

The same can be said for a healthy Trevor Zegras, who is only one year removed from back-to-back 60+ point seasons and has at least 25-30 goal potential. Robby Fabbri has scored at a 25-goal pace in his career and could bolster the bottom of the lineup if he can remain healthy.

In my opinion, the middle-of-the-road teams in the NHL scored around 250 goals in 2023-24, so anything in the 230-goal range should be considered a sizable success.

Derek: Injuries were the main reason why the Ducks’ potential was capped last season. The projected top-6 (Zegras, Mason McTavish Alex Killorn, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry, Frank Vatrano) only played a handful of games together and made it difficult to keep power play units in consistent order.

With the addition of Gauthier for a full season and the rest of the Ducks’ forwards back at full health, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them eclipse last season’s goals total by 50 or more.

From Brent B:

What is the one trade you would like to see Verbeek make before the start of the season?

Patrick: For better or worse, I’m the kind of person who wants the Ducks to always be involved in the discussion for the biggest name(s) on the market. That market seems pretty dry right now, however, and not many significant trades typically occur this close to camp.

That said, the Seattle Kraken currently have $4K in cap space with only 12 forwards slated for their opening night roster. Andre Burakovsky’s contract carries an AAV of $5.5 million for three more years and he had a disappointing 2023-24 season from a production standpoint, totaling only 19 points in 49 games. They also have a crowded top-nine with 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright on the outside looking in after an excellent season last year.

If Seattle intends to award Wright a non-fourth-line role in the NHL and carry 14 forwards, I would like to see the Ducks target Burakovsky in a trade. Greg Cronin should be familiar with him from their time in the Colorado Avalanche organization and he fits what the Ducks are trying to accomplish from an on-ice perspective.

Derek: I’d love to see Verbeek take a swing on Nick Robertson of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hails from Southern California and is currently an RFA. He’s yo-yo’d between the NHL and AHL and while he hasn’t been able to find a full-time role with the Leafs, he’s shown flashes of what he can provide as a complementary scorer.

The leverage for both parties isn’t very high. Robertson has just 34 career points in 87 NHL games, with 56 of those games coming this past season. Robertson doesn’t have arbitration rights, so the decision to re-sign him can’t be forced through that process.

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On the other hand, the Leafs would be selling low on a player they selected in the second round just five years ago who hasn’t gotten to play regularly at the NHL level. Robertson is also a bit on the smaller side at 5-foot-9, with Verbeek’s targets of choice usually more on the spectrum of 6-foot-1 and taller.

From Steven T:

Now that the jersey rebrand saga is over, what upgrades should Honda Center have by the time OC Vibe is complete? Escalators? Actual stuff to see after the game?

Patrick: I’m not well-versed in the plans for the OC Vibe, personally. I am, however, as intrigued and excited as anyone for the realized plans of the area. There’s something about enjoying a meal in a restaurant before a game surrounded by other fans in anticipation of watching their team in a big game.

The hope is the Ducks will be firmly in their contending window by the time the district is up and running.

Derek: I think it would take a lot of reconstruction to have escalators inside Honda Center. Whether the Samuellis would want that, I’m not sure. Adding more post-game events or visuals aside from the Three Stars would be fun. I was always a fan of a player being available for photos at the Jack Daniel’s Club after games. OCVIBE isn’t expected to be fully completed until 2019, so there is plenty of time to improve the gameday experience before then.

From Wayne G:

Why did the Vans shoes take so long to go out?

Patrick: Unfortunately, I’m not well-versed in this area either. My guess is one side or the other (the Ducks or Vans) didn’t anticipate the overwhelming popularity of the product.

Derek: Based on what was said by Steve Van Doren, son of Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren, it seems that there were some communication issues between the Ducks and Vans in terms of getting the product out on time. There were issues with having full stock of The Offspring x Violent Gentlemen jerseys for Offspring Night last season as well.

From Benny T:

In your opinion, what is the likelihood of a current “core” player being moved before the draft? And if it’s a moderate to high chance, who’s your pick to be the outgoing player?

Patrick: (For the purpose of this question, I’ll consider the core to include Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, and Lukas Dostal)

In a world where the Ducks move on from a piece considered part of their core moving forward, the 2024-25 season would have either gone very well or turned pretty far South. The Ducks have amassed a deep and potent stockpile of supremely talented young players, so moving a core player for a package of picks and prospects doesn’t fully compute.

A trade involving one of them only makes sense if they’re involved as the centerpiece of a trade to acquire a crystal clear upgrade. For example, a bonafide, elite top-pair defenseman or perennial 90-plus point forward.

Derek: My sentiments are similar to Patrick’s. The Ducks already have their core so it wouldn’t make sense to move one of those pieces out to get something else. Now, it’s more about making sure those core pieces continue to develop and prove that they are indeed the foundation of this franchise.

From Lallaren R/Isaac M:

How many points do you think the Ducks could get this season?/How many points do the Ducks have to reach to be considered trending in the right direction in their rebuild?:

Patrick: As Derek and I discussed in the video segment, the Pacific is as wide open as it’s been in recent memory, and standings points may be more up for grabs than in years past. The range of outcomes is vast.

In a world where nearly everything broke right for the Ducks, I can envision a season where they sniff the 80-point mark, a 21-point improvement from the 2023-24 season. A more modest and realistic expectation would be a finish in the 70 to 75-point range.

Based on standings from the last few seasons, they’d still be selecting in the top ten of the NHL Entry Draft with a finish in the low 70s. However, a 15 to 20-point improvement should instill a significant boost of confidence in the direction and vision of the organization.

Derek: I think the Ducks’ ceiling hovers around the 80-point mark. Consecutive finishes with less than 60 points is certainly not what general manager Pat Verbeek had in mind and I’m sure it wasn’t what head coach Greg Cronin had in mind for his first season as an NHL head coach.

Anaheim lost a lot of one-goal games last season and turning around even half of those results will already have them close to the 70-80 point range. I think anywhere in that range would be considered a step in the right direction for the rebuild.

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