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    Derek Lee
    Derek Lee
    Feb 3, 2025, 19:45

    The Hockey News' Derek Lee reports from the Ducks' practice.

    The Hockey News' Derek Lee reports from the Ducks' practice.

    Fresh off their Sunday afternoon win over the Montréal Canadiens, the Ducks were back at Honda Center on Monday for practice, and several thousand new faces joined them.

    Monday marked the Ducks' annual First Flight field trip, which invites nearly 15,000 elementary students (grades 3-6) from 150 schools to Honda Center for a day of education and hockey as part of the Anaheim Ducks SCORE Program.

    Lines remained the same from Sunday’s game for Monday’s practice with Troy Terry still out due to an illness.

    Leo Carlsson, who had his first multi-point game on Sunday since Nov. 15, feels that he has been getting opportunities to produce despite the lack of points this season.

    “I think I’ve played a lot of good games (and) created a lot of chances. They just haven’t gone in,” Carlsson said. “It’s nice to get in some simple assists, it’s nice for confidence.”

    Carlsson will be joining up with Team Sweden for the 4 Nations Face-Off in just about a week. While it’s unclear what his role on the team will be, he’s received high praise from both Team Sweden general manager Josef Boumedienne and head coach Sam Hallam.

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    “(I’ll be) around guys who have been great players for a long time in the show,” Carlsson said. “Nice to have a Swedish locker room, see how it is. The experience is going to be to learn. If I play, (it’ll) feel like a little bit of a playoff hockey-style. A lot of fast hockey, so it should be fun.”

    Carlsson also had the opportunity to meet with WNBA rising star Cameron Brink of the Los Angeles Sparks after Sunday’s game. The two players exchanged jerseys in a photo opportunity posted to social media.

    While Carlsson sheepishly admitted that he doesn’t follow the WNBA (or the NBA, for that matter) very closely, he said that he does see a lot of highlights when scrolling Instagram.

    “It was fun,” Carlsson said. “(Brink was) super nice. Super tall and super tall family, so super tall brother too. Felt smaller for a while, but it was fun to meet them.”

    Despite his claims that he doesn’t follow the NBA very closely, Carlsson had some thoughts when asked about the blockbuster trade which sent superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks

    “I don’t know what the Mavs are doing,” Carlsson said. “I saw that they wanted a good guy who can play defense, but (Dončić) scored 73 (points in a single game) last year! I don’t know. It’s a different move. We’ll see who’s going to play defense for the Lakers now, but it’s fun to see. They’re going to be a great team now. I don’t know, it just feels dumb by the Mavs. They were so young still.”