Anaheim’s young players are becoming leaders on the scoresheet and in the locker room.
As the Ducks continue to pull themselves out of their rebuild, they’ve done so on the backs of their young players. Leo Carlsson is beginning to earn early Hart Trophy consideration in the midst of a breakout season while Cutter Gauthier is currently a top-3 goalscorer in the NHL.
Fresh off multi-year contract extensions, Mason McTavish and goaltender Lukáš Dostál are making an impact. On the backend, Jackson LaCombe—who signed an eight-year extension last month—is averaging more than 25 minutes per game.
After leaning heavily on their veterans for both production and leadership for the past several seasons, that responsibility has now shifted to the young core. This season, Carlsson, McTavish and LaCombe have assumed roles as alternate captains in a rotation alongside Ryan Strome and Alex Killorn, behind captain Radko Gudas.
“We still think whether you’ve got a letter or not on your jersey that you're still part of the leadership group,” head coach Joel Quenneville said. “And we expect a leadership contribution across the board, whether you're a young guy or an older guy. We felt at the beginning of the year that we needed these guys to start turning. It’s time. They’ve done a good job in the short amount of time, and I think we've got a little bit of balance in that area as well.”
“We talked about it before the season,” Dostál said. “That it's important because it's us, the core coming up, the young core. I believe it's important, especially for those guys who should be here a long time. It's important for them to be part of that leadership group and learn a lot of new things because it's not just about the way (you play) on the ice, but it's also how to lead the team off the ice. I think we have great mentors in our veteran guys. The guys wearing the letters, they're very lucky that they can learn from these guys we have here.”
“It’s great,” Olen Zellweger said. “It’s a testament to how great players and great people they are. The leadership and passion they bring is awesome and I think everyone notices it. There's a reason they wear a letter. I think there's lots of great veterans and great leaders on the team. So there's lots of people to lean on in this room and we're a tight-knit room, so it's going to be something we continue to grow on going into the future.”
Troy Terry, who has worn a letter for the Ducks in the past, knows what some of his young teammates are going through as they transition into bigger leadership roles.
“It’s no coincidence for them,” Terry said. “They're huge parts of our team on the ice, but also off the ice. I love seeing those guys be recognized for it. I kind of went through something similar. When you get to wear the A, it just makes you realize a little bit more how much of a voice you have in the room. And especially guys like LaCombe and McTavish and Leo, they’re such big parts of our team on the ice, and they're still young. Getting to see them kind of make their own way in the leadership side of things has been fun for me to watch.”
Chris Kreider, who arrived this past summer from the New York Rangers via trade, pointed out the mature nature—despite their young age—of the Ducks’ future leaders.
“On paper, they’re young, but they don't carry themselves like young guys,” Kreider said. “Very mature as people. Their games are mature, too. They want to win games. They’re fierce competitors and really good teammates, too. I think it's just a natural progression for those guys.”
“(Just doing) the best I can to help my teammates,” LaCombe said. “I'm still pretty young and still learning a lot, so I'm just gonna continue to grow and slowly just work myself into that role if I can. Just do the best I can.”
“The left shoulder is a little heavier on him,” Gudas said. “It looks good. I think he deserves every bit of it, the way he plays. The amount he plays, he's playing big roles, big minutes for us in every possible situation. We need a guy like that to be stepping up, and he's leading by example. He's doing the right things all over the ice. Guys want to follow him, guys want to be around him. That's a great thing to have in a guy who is going to be running the backend for a while.”
At 22, McTavish has been the elder statesman on his line, centering 21-year-old Cutter Gauthier and 19-year-old Beckett Sennecke. Entering his fourth full season, McTavish has already played almost 250 NHL games and has taken it upon himself to be a welcoming presence for players like Sennecke.
“We’ve got a great group in here,” McTavish said. “There's so many leaders, everybody does such a great job. I remember when I came in as a young guy and I found the more I got comfortable around the guys, the better I started to play. That’s what I'm trying to do for him, just welcome him and make sure he feels confident and comfortable in the locker room. I think that leads to being confident on the ice, which is huge.”
Mikael Granlund, who signed a three-year deal with the Ducks during the offseason, is no stranger to holding a leadership role at a young age. He was both an alternate captain and captain for Finland at both World Juniors and the World Championship and has worn a letter for multiple teams throughout his NHL career.
“You kind of have the natural leadership for a lot of these guys,” Granlund said. “They’re used to being the guy in juniors, all those situations, so I don't think it's anything new to them. And it's a really good locker room. No one is above anyone; we're the same, kind of the same group here, so it's been awesome. And the younger kids, they're even going to learn more. They're going to get more experience. They're going to learn how to handle themselves. We're in a good spot.”
“I think it just shows their character and what they bring to our team, even as young guys,” Drew Helleson said. “They’ve been through a lot already in their young careers and gone through some diversity and they pushed through, and now all of them are unbelievable players and very deserving of what they've got. It’s exciting for them, it’s exciting for us as a group to follow them as leaders.”
“Super honored to have a letter on the road,” Carlsson said. “Really cool, a role that I want to be in the future as well full-time. Super exciting.”
“(Be a) good guy, to start,” Carlsson said on what quality a player needs to be a leader. “I feel like I'm maybe more of a leader on the ice (right now) because I’m so young. I’m not that vocal in the room yet. I still am, but my leadership’s more on the ice.”
“Who (Carlsson) is as a player, who the organization sees him becoming, I think they want these younger guys to kind of take a step in that maturity,” Killorn said. “And we acknowledge them to be leaders in the locker room. Everyone leads in a different way. especially with his play. We just want to continue for some of these young guys to wear letters and show some leadership. I know when I first got a letter, it was kind of showing you that you could become a leader and this is your opportunity.”
Jacob Trouba, who was captain of the New York Rangers prior to being traded to the Ducks last season, believes that leadership comes from how you carry yourself, whether you wear a letter or not.
“Just be yourself," Trouba said. "People kind of look and learn and feed off each other. We’ve got a group of guys doing that; other guys will follow along.”
“He's a really good player,” Trouba said of Carlsson. “He's the driver of the team. Plays a huge, huge role at a young age. Top center, big minutes offensively, defensively. Makes a big impact on the game and with that comes a lot of responsibilities, leadership’s probably one of them.”
Carlsson’s talent and emerging leadership qualities have also stood out to his teammates at the international level. He was named to Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-off Roster last February, appearing in one of their three games. Carlsson was the youngest player amongst all four rosters.
“There are different kinds of leaders, the ones who lead on the ice and the guys who are a little bit more vocal off the ice,” Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rickard Rakell said. “The captains I had were both great. Usually, they have it naturally and I'm sure that he'll probably be the captain for this organization in the future. He definitely has all those qualities.”
“(Wearing a letter) amplifies that he's a mature, young man," Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "They want him to grow into a certain role in their organization and they have a lot of high hopes for him. When you see that from afar, it tells you that he's doing something right. From my interactions with him and from what I've heard from people who know him and played with him before, he's a smart kid and he's obviously a good hockey player. But for being that young, to have the maturity to accept that role and thrive and be good in that role is something that is very rare.”
Ian Moore has played just 14 NHL games, but he has already noticed the strong leadership that emanates from Anaheim's locker room. A co-captain at Harvard during his collegiate hockey career, Moore is aware of the qualities that a leader must have.
“It just shows what kind of a room we have,” he said. “I think there's too many guys in here that should be wearing letters. We've got a lot of leaders in here and it's just cool to see younger guys that are really leading an NHL team, certainly with their play on the ice, but also in the room. What people don't see is just the way they carry themselves. What they say, how they do things, and that's the reason why they have those positions. But, like I said, there's a lot of guys that I think—and I think the team knows—that are in those positions as well. And they might not wear a letter, but they still (have) similar roles.”
“I think there's a lot that goes into (being a leader). Sometimes, it can be a vocal leader, sometimes not. And both of those are great. I think it's more about your presence in the way you carry yourself on and off the ice. How you work, how you do things and that's kind of why I say I think we’ve got a lot of leaders in here. I think the young guys and everyone really just kind of look around the room. Everyone’s picking each other up and making sure we're doing the right things on a day-to-day basis to have success.”
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