The IIHF World Championship Tournament is down to its final four teams. Of the six Anaheim Ducks representing their countries in Czechia, four remain.
The IIHF World Championship quarterfinals are in the books. The final four teams are Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, and the host country of Czechia. The semi-final games will take place on Saturday and the Championship game, on Sunday.
Six members of the Anaheim Ducks organization traveled to Prague and Ostrava following the 2023-24 regular season to represent their countries at the tournament; Trevor Zegras (USA), Pavol Regenda (Slovakia), Olen Zellweger (Canada), Isac Lundestrom (Sweden), Radko Gudas (Czechia), and Lukas Dostal (Czechia).
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Zegras' United States team was eliminated in a 1-0 thriller against Lukas Dostal and Radko Gudas' Czechia. Pavol Regenda's Slovakia fell to Zellweger's Canada 6-3. Lundestrom's Swedish team defeated Finland 2-1 in overtime to advance to the semi-final.
Trevor Zegras
Zegras (23) elected to join former USNTDP teammates Matt Boldy, Cole Caufield, and Jake Sanderson on Team USA's national team for the World Championships in Czechia in hopes of making up for some of the lost time he endured due to injury in the 2023-24 season.
Zegras was sidelined from the Ducks lineup for two significantly long stretches during the regular season. He only played 31 games for the Ducks and tallied 15 points.
Zegras didn't have the tournament he was likely hoping for when he set out for Europe at the beginning of May. He only scored a goal and an assist in eight games and Czechia's game-winning goal in the second period of the quarterfinal came on a power play in which Zegras was responsible, as he was in the penalty box serving a tripping minor.
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Zegras began the tournament centering a line with Cole Caufield and Brady Tkachuk but was demoted to Kevin Hayes' wing with Joel Farabee as the tournament went on.
Zegras has two years remaining on his three-year contract.
Pavol Regenda
Regenda (24) represented Slovakia at the World Championships for the third straight year in 2024. His performance at the 2022 tournament when he scored five goals in eight games turned heads and may have contributed to him earning a two-year contract with the Ducks organization.
In the 2024 tournament, Regenda finished with a goal and three assists in eight games and averaged over 17 minutes of ice time per game.
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Regenda played five games for the Ducks in 2023-24 and didn't register a point. He had a productive sophomore season in the AHL where he scored 19 goals and 15 assists in 54 games. He was sidelined for a month and a half during the season with an injury.
Regenda is a restricted free agent and his future with the Ducks organization is unclear.
Olen Zellweger
Olen Zellweger (20) has represented Canada at three IIHF tournaments (2021 U18 World Championship, 2022 World Junior Championship, 2023 World Junior Championship) and has won a gold medal every time. He may go a perfect four-for-four if Canada wins their next two games in Prague.
When playing international tournaments, teams can dress 20 skaters (often 13 forwards and seven defensemen). Zellweger is the clear seventh defenseman in Team Canada's lineup. He's only hit the double-digit mark once in terms of time on ice in a game.
Despite averaging just over seven minutes per game, Zellweger has tallied four assists in eight games.
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Zellweger was an AHL All-Star in his rookie season scoring 37 points in 44 games for the Gulls. He played in 26 games for the Ducks in the NHL and tallied nine points.
He has two more years remaining on his ELC and will likely remain with the Ducks for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.
Lukas Dostal
Through eight games of the World Championship tournament, Matt Boldy of Team USA had 14 points, but the star of the tournament could very well be Czechia starting goaltender, Lukas Dostal.
Dostal (23) has a .930 save percentage for the host nation in six games, including two shutouts. His record is 4-2, but his only two losses came in a 4-3 overtime loss to Canada and a 2-1 shootout loss to Switzerland.
Dostal started 38 games for the Ducks in 2023-24; his rookie season. His .902 SV% was just shy of the .903 league average, quite the feat when backstopping the NHL's third-worst team according to the standings.
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Moving forward, the Ducks are set to deploy a tandem in net between John Gibson and Lukas Dostal.
Dostal has one year remaining on his contract.
Radko Gudas
Gudas (33) is an alternate captain for Czechia, the host nation of the 2024 IIHF World Championship. This is the fourth time he's represented Czechia at this tournament.
He is playing on the team's top defensive pair with Jakub Krejčík and averaging roughly 18.5 minutes per game. He's tallied just one assist thus far in the tournament.
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Gudas made an immediate impact on and off the ice for the Anaheim Ducks in 2023-24. He scored 18 points in 66 games, was a stable presence on the blueline, and was a reliable partner for a number of the Ducks' young left-shot defensemen.
He has two years remaining on his three-year contract with the Ducks.
Isac Lundestrom
Lundestrom's Team Sweden has been dominant at the 2024 World Championships thus far. They're a perfect 8-0 and have outscored opponents 37-10.
Lundestrom (24) has centered his team's third line and has averaged roughly 14.5 minutes per game. He's tallied two goals and three assists to this point.
Lundestrom missed the Ducks' first 36 games recovering from an offseason Achilles tendon tear. He finished the 2023-24 season with 11 points in 46 games.
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Lundestrom is a restricted free agent and will require a qualifying offer of $1.8 million to be extended if his rights are to remain with the Ducks. If Ducks GM Pat Verbeek does not extend such an offer, the young Swedish center will become an unrestricted free agent.
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