Ducks Coach Compares Olen Zellweger to Quinn Hughes
Olen Zellweger, Pavel Buchnevich (Ryan Sun-Imagn Images)The Anaheim Ducks made one significant move at the 2025 NHL trade deadline, trading left-shot defenseman Brian Dumoulin to the New Jersey Devils for a 2025 second-round pick and prospect Herman Traff (91st overall in 2024). Though it was a sizable return for Dumoulin, the most significant impact it had was freeing up a lengthy logjam on the left side of the Ducks' blueline.
Since the acquisition of Jacob Trouba on Dec. 6, the Ducks had been electing to scratch one or both (until the Cam Fowler trade a week later) of their talented sophomore defenders, Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov, on a nightly basis.
“When you’re a young player and you’ve been playing and you get pulled out of the lineup, sometimes there are reasons you get pulled out and other times you don’t deserve to come out of the lineup,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said before the Ducks 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday. “It’s puzzling to young players and it wrecks their confidence. At some point, I don’t want that anymore.”
In the five games leading up to the Dumoulin trade, Zellweger was the young defenseman serving as the healthy scratch.
After the logjam was relieved in the Ducks' first game following the trade, the aforementioned 4-3 loss on Friday, Zellweger was second on the Ducks in terms of TOI (20:55) and was the point man on their power play unit with Troy Terry, Alex Killorn, Frank Vatrano, and Ryan Strome.
“I thought he was great,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said of Zellweger’s performance after the game. “Zelly’s up and down the ice. He's fearless. He just adds a dimension of pace and speed. He gets the puck, his head's up, he's looking for opportunities to generate offense.
“The challenge with young kids is to have the balance of when to dump it and when to carry it in. He's still going to go through that process over the next 20 games, but he gives you a jolt.
“I thought he was awesome on the power play. He was in that unit. He was terrific, so I mean, I think, without putting too much weight on him, but he's got a little bit of that Quinn Hughes in him. I know he's religious about his preparation, his work habits, so he's got a really bright future”
Cronin’s high praise coupled with his performance in his first game back could restore Zellweger’s valuable confidence down the stretch run of the Ducks' season with 20 games remaining on their schedule.
Before Thursday, it could have been pondered if Zellweger was, in fact, a component to the long-term vision for the Ducks. After Friday’s game, there is not a shred of doubt about how the coaching staff, front office, and locker room feel about the 21-year-old defenseman who was an AHL All-Star, two-time WHL Defenseman of the Year, and CHL Defenseman of the Year.