Young stars are thriving, but the Ducks are tightening reigns as playoff push intensifies.
With eight games and two weeks left on the 2025-26 schedule, the Anaheim Ducks sit atop the Pacific Division standings and four points ahead of the second-place Oilers.
With the additions of roster players like Chris Kreider, Mikael Granlund, and Ryan Poehling, along with a brand new coaching staff, the Ducks were expected to build on their 21-point improvement from the 2023-24 season into the 2024-25 season.
This season has been one that many young teams crave as their franchise climbs out of the depths of an elongated rebuild. Young players entering their primes like Jackson LaCombe and Lukas Dostal continued to build on their breakout seasons from a year ago.
Meanwhile, core point producers like Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson have established themselves as future elite players in the NHL and have shown they can be among the best at what they do at their positions.
Even players like Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov, though they have gone through several ups and downs this season, have greatly improved their 200-foot games and have shown they still possess the potential to be impactful offensive players in the NHL.
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise, and the one that’s been the most positively impactful, has been the emergence of rookie forward Beckett Sennecke. He’s currently tied with Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov for the rookie lead in points with 57 (22-35=57) in 74 games. His presence on the roster has rounded out the top six, and he’s found ways to translate what made him special at the junior level to the NHL on a nightly basis.
However, the coaching and system changes didn’t and haven’t meshed with every roster player. Former top-six players Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano have had difficulties adjusting to the tempo and/or the required decision-making to carve out a depth role on the roster. Strome was traded at the March 6 deadline after a string of healthy scratches, and Vatrano is in the midst of his own cluster of healthy scratches.
Perhaps the greatest benefit to the young players on the Ducks roster this season has been head coach Joel Quenneville and his staff’s willingness to enable them to play freely while expanding and exploring the reaches of their offensive potential.
The youngest and most talented players projected to make up the core of the team when competitive have been placed in a system beneficial and conducive to their collective skillset, have been allowed to make mistakes, and have been given roles in which they can succeed.
However, as the season has progressed and the finish line is in sight, Quenneville’s perceived tolerance for critical errors has shrunk, as has the leash for those young mistake-prone players.
Griffin Hooper-Imagn ImagesMason McTavish (23) is having his worst statistical season in his four-year NHL career and has produced just 34 points (14-20=34) in 67 games, a .51 points-per-game average and a significant drop from last season’s .68 points/g pace.
McTavish’s output had dropped low enough to earn him back-to-back healthy scratches on March 15 against the Montreal Canadiens and on March 18 against the Philadelphia Flyers. In his six games since being reinserted into the lineup, he’s scored two points (1-1=2) while playing five of those six games as the fourth-line left winger.
“Be strong at the net, want the puck,” Quenneville said of what he’s expecting from McTavish when he returned to the lineup on March 20. “(Be) defensively responsible just like we want with everybody, basically, every night.
“Possession with the puck. He’s a centerman with good instincts, and he can make plays. He’s got a good shot. So we want to see some of that. At the same time, there’s the other side as well.”
In Monday’s 5-4 OT loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a game that saw multiple injuries to forwards and a slew of penalties, McTavish only saw 14:01 TOI, and he didn’t see the ice following the Leafs’ go-ahead goal with three minutes left in the third, where he may have given a less-than-spectacular backchecking effort.
For however great a season Beckett Sennecke (20) is having, as the season winds down, he’s becoming more mistake-prone in his end, making poor puck decisions that lead to odd-man breaks the other way.
Though he’s understandably a volatile, high-risk/high-reward young forward, that volatility is now costing the Ducks points on the scoreboard and points in the standings. In their March 18 game against the Flyers, in overtime, he attempted a between-the-legs, cross-ice pass on a 2v1 with backchecking pressure that was disrupted and that sparked a rush to win the game for the Flyers.
With 17:38 to go in the third period of the Ducks’ 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks, he attempted a drop pass to a trailing forward, the fourth player into the offensive zone on the rush, which missed its target and sent the Canucks on a 2v1 that they converted, tying that game at three. He didn’t see the ice for the remainder of that game.
During Monday’s loss to the Leafs, he attempted a slip pass to a teammate at the point, with the far defenseman activated, which was broken up and which sent William Nylander on a breakaway to tie that game at three with 9:46 remaining in the third period. Sennecke didn’t see the ice for the remainder of that game either.
“Every day is a new day, and every day we learn,” Quenneville said after Monday’s game. “Every day, we address. We give him the freedom to do a lot of things offensively. You don’t want to take away from him, but that’s sometimes where the trouble starts. So, I think we've got to find that balance.”
With still a relatively comfortable lead (for now) in the Pacific Division standings, Quenneville can afford to prioritize lessons over an extra standings point. If either (or both) McTavish or Sennecke had played in the overtime frame on Monday, it’s possible, or even likely, that the Ducks would have come away from that game with two points instead of one, as the Ducks are 17-5 in overtimes and shootouts.
McTavish’s poor season could be attributed, in part, to a lengthy contract negotiation that lasted well into Ducks’ training camp in late September. The details of his game haven’t improved enough (or at all) away from the puck to counterbalance his lack of production. If the Ducks are to realize their potential this season and in future seasons, they’ll need Mason McTavish to play a pivotal role in their middle six and have an impact on every shift.
Sennecke has a special ability to manufacture instant offense out of thin air. However, that style will inherently be tied to taking risks with the puck. Becoming more selective with when and how to unleash or rein in those abilities will come in time. He’s a rookie, and rookie mistakes are to be expected. However, they’re beginning to cost the team vital points at a crucial time in the season. The Ducks can’t afford to allow him to make those mistakes when they matter the most: the playoffs.
The Ducks are on the precipice of achieving something they’ve been starved for for eight years. By extending a long leash early in the year and shortening it down the stretch upon lack of improvement in certain areas, Quenneville and the coaching staff are taking both a long-term and short-term approach to get the most out of important young pieces on their roster.