Stars like Carlsson, Kreider and Gauthier struggle as the Ducks' offensive momentum falters, leading to a critical need for renewed scoring.
The Anaheim Ducks were once the NHL’s hottest team, atop the Pacific Division standings and declared a “contender for real” by the team’s breakout superstar and emerging franchise player, Leo Carlsson, at the height of the season.
Less than two months ago, through their first 15 games of the 2025-26 season, the Ducks were 11-3-1. Carlsson had produced 25 points (10-15=25), sophomore forward Cutter Gauthier was among the league leaders in goals and had 20 points (11-9=20), and newly acquired Chris Kreider, despite having missed four games with HFMD (Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease) early in the season, had 12 points (9-3=12) through his first 11 games.
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Since then, the season has had some high highs, as the Ducks have been in and out of the top spot in the Pacific Division, with some impressive wins against contenders and dominating performances against teams they should beat from an “on-paper” perspective. However, that roller coaster hasn’t been on the uptick since early December, and the Ducks have lost seven of their last 11 games and have only registered six points in the standings during that stretch.
Defensive lapses have remained an issue since the opening puck-drop, most notably net front defending and decision-making against transition. Lukas Dostal, who’d kept the Ducks alive in several of their early-season games, has performed merely at a human level of late, and the team is failing to outscore their problems as they had during their most impressive stretch.
Since that eye-popping 15-game sample to open the season, the Ducks are 10-14-2. Carlsson has only scored one point (an assist) in his last seven games, Kreider hasn’t impacted the scoresheet in his last six, and he only has one point (an assist) in his last 12 games, and Gauthier has two points (1-1=2) in his last eight games.
Troy Terry, Anaheim’s second-leading scorer with 39 points (13-26=39) in 41 games, has been the Ducks' most consistent offensive weapon this season. Terry’s been a player who’s battled through tough stretches early in his career, adjusting and discovering how to translate his skillset to the highest level.
“Hockey is such a confidence (thing). I went through spells where I haven’t scored, and then I’ll score three games in a row,” Terry told THN.com/Anaheim when asked about how his teammates can overcome this stretch. “It’s just kinda the way it goes.
“Just mentally realizing that those slumps are going to happen, you try to limit the slumps, and just realizing not to ride the high of scoring three games in a row, if you haven’t scored in ten games, things are going to turn back around. Trying to stay even keel, keep confidence up, because it’s a long season and it goes up and down.”
Since his scorching start, Carlsson, in particular, has been the focus of opposing game plans, and teams have focused on eliminating his most dangerous and impactful source of offense: generating off the rush.
Early in the season, Carlsson was discovering new ways to build speed through the defensive and neutral zones, gaining easy offensive zone entries, and making proper reads to drive to the net, push defenders back on their heels, and open space for himself and teammates. Since then, teams have kept F3s high, backtracked through the middle of the ice, and stacked the defensive blueline. Carlsson has struggled to counter-adjust and manufacture new ways to remain productive and positively influence plays.
“He had a great start to the year. He had great pace. He had the puck a lot, and that line was very dangerous,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said of his star center. “He had a possession game where he was skating in the middle of the ice. I think that’s when you notice him, when he has the puck a lot coming through that area with some pace, and it’s on his stick.
“That line’s not just a rush line, but a threat to score in the offensive zone or on the power play. Scorers are going to have some dry stretches like we are in right now, but we expect them to lead us out of it.”
Kreider is in his 13th full season in the NHL and is no stranger to the ups and downs of being a goal scorer at the highest level of the sport. In the three seasons before 2024-25, Kreider posted his most productive seasons from a goal-scoring perspective, totaling 52 in 2021-22, 36 in 2022-23, and 39 in 2023-24. His production crashed back down to earth in 2024-25, where, amidst a myriad of injuries, he only scored 22 goals and added eight assists in 69 games. He has more of a “water off a duck’s back” (pun intended) approach to his recent scoring slump.
“Law of averages. It’s gonna come. I’m gonna score goals, I’m gonna score a lot of goals. Just gonna keep on shooting, keep on putting myself in the right spot,” Kreider told Ducks beat reporter Zach Cavanagh of the Sporting Tribune. “If I consistently scored every game, I’d be making a max deal. I think everyone would.
“Everyone’s searching for that consistency, but it’s a law of averages. If you keep putting yourself in that spot over and over, make sure the rest of your game is tight; eventually, it will come around.”
Cutter Gauthier isn’t shy about putting himself in those spots “over and over” like Kreider suggested. Among players who have played at least 500 minutes this season, Gauthier leads the NHL in shots per 60 minutes (13.05), .44 ahead of Nathan MacKinnon (12.61) and shot attempts/60 (24.94), 2.07 ahead of Alex DeBrincat (22.87).
Though the shot volume hasn’t dipped during his recent struggles, and he’s added layers to his offensive game, notably his playmaking and puck transportation, his goal scoring has proven somewhat reliant on his linemates and their ability to open space for him and find him in soft ice. He’s yet to fully discover how to create his own shot, manipulate defenders, and utilize the full lethality of his pure shooting ability. Cause for concern isn’t quite warranted, as he’s just 124 games into his NHL career and has scored at a .31 goals per game pace.
The Ducks were fortunate to pile up enough early standings points through the first month of the season that it has allowed them to have a poor stretch and not lose too much ground in the standings, currently sitting in third place in the Pacific Division.
In theory, the team’s defensive lapses are simple mental fixes. Dostal has proven to be an above-average goaltender through the first three seasons of his NHL career, and the early offensive output and natural talents up and down the Ducks' lineup are encouraging signs that they have the capability to turn things around quickly.
However, “quickly” is the operative word, for as much as a good two weeks can put them right back in the driver’s seat, a bad two weeks can put them too far behind the eight ball to fully recover from and could decide whether or not the Ducks will miss the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season.