Roster Battles to Watch at Ducks Training Camp
As the 2024 Ducks Training Camp begins, some opening night roster spots are up for grabs.
Anaheim Ducks training camp is scheduled to begin Thursday, Sept 19, with three full days of on-ice training sessions.
The Ducks camp roster features 66 players, including 39 forwards, 20 defensemen, and seven goaltenders.
The roster will be split into three groups to start camp, essentially making up three full 20-player lineups with extra skaters here and there.
The Ducks' opening night roster is fairly predictable from a zoomed-out perspective. Barring injury and assuming the team opts to maintain a 23-player roster consisting of 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies.
Forwards
The Ducks' top three lines seem all but written in ink as training camp commences. There will likely be continuous shuffling and several combinations in attempts to maximize production and effectiveness throughout, but the top nine will likely consist of Leo Carlsson, Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry, Cutter Gauthier, Alex Killorn, Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, and Robby Fabbri.
Center Isac Lundestrom signed a one-year contract extension on June 30, likely slotting him as the team's fourth-line center.
Four roster spots and two lineup spots in the forward group are available at the bottom of the Ducks' depth chart.
The frontrunners for those spots are likely Brett Leason and Ross Johnston. Both are returning roster players who slotted in for 68 games each in 2023-24. Leason notched 11 goals and 11 assists while averaging 13:01 TOI. Johnston scored a goal and three assists, averaging 8:12 TOI, and accumulated nine fighting majors.
Six remaining forwards in the Ducks organization played NHL games in 2023-24: Jansen Harkins, Brock McGinn, Carson Meyer, Pavol Regenda, Nikita Nesterenko, and Sam Colangelo.
Brock McGinn (30) was in and out of the Ducks lineup in 2023-24. He was acquired at the 2023 trade deadline along with a 2024 third-round pick in exchange for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.
Mcginn managed to crack the Ducks lineup 24 times last season, scoring a goal and two assists before he was forced to miss the majority of the season with a back injury that required disc surgery in March.
McGinn has one year remaining on his four-year contract, carrying an AAV of $2.75 million.
The Ducks signed Jansen Harkins (27) to a two-year contract on July 2, carrying an AAV of $787,500.
Harkins played 45 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023-24, tallying four assists. He played 14 games in the AHL for Scranton/Willkes-Barre, notching 12 points.
The Ducks signed Carson Meyer (27) to a one-year contract on July 3, carrying an AAV of $775K.
Meyer played 14 games in the NHL for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023-24, scoring a goal and an assist, and played 55 games for the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL, scoring 22 goals and 15 assists.
McGinn, Harkins, and Meyer, as well as Leason and Johnston, would all have to pass through waivers should the Ducks desire to reassign any of them to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL.
Pavol Regenda (24), Nikita Nesterenko (23), and Sam Colangelo (22) are all waiver-exempt, meaning they wouldn't require waivers should the Ducks reassign them. Due to circumstances and barring spectacular training camps and preseasons, it is unlikely any of the three will make the Ducks' opening night roster.
"The biggest thing for me isn’t really offense," Colangelo said during rookie camp when asked what he thought he needed to show to make the Ducks' roster. "I think for me that’s something that comes instinctually in a way. The NHL is a little bit harder. I’m just trying to prove to the coaching staff that I can play in my own zone, be responsible, and get pucks out. Not be a liability out there. I think if I do that, the offense will come. Just trying to play a 200-foot game and win all my battles. Try and transport the puck up the wall."
The Ducks invited Boris Katchouk to their training camp on a PTO.
Katchouk (26) played 59 NHL games in 2023-24 for the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks, scoring seven goals and six assists.
Defensemen
Like with the forwards, the defense core in Anaheim seems all but set, barring injury and assuming they intend to keep seven defensemen on their opening night roster.
Cam Fowler and Radko Gudas both have two years remaining on their current contracts and are the elder statesmen on the blueline.
Brian Dumoulin was acquired on July 2 from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick.
The Ducks signed Urho Vaakanainen on July 1 to a one-year contract with an AAV of $1.1 million.
Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger will all be entering their NHL sophomore seasons in 2024-25. They are all waiver-exempt, but unless an injury occurs or they are vastly outperformed, it can be expected they will make the opening night roster for Anaheim.
Challengers for an opening night roster spot include Drew Helleson and Tristan Luneau.
Helleson (23) has played 141 games in the AHL over the last three seasons and was called up to the NHL at the end of the 2022-23 season for three games.
Luneau (20) made the Ducks opening night roster in 2023-24, but after suffering an infection in his knee which required surgery, he has endured a long recovery just to make it back onto the ice.
"There’s a timing element everyone is trying to catch up with, Tristan isn’t immune to that," Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said following the Ducks' rookie camp and 'Rookie Faceoff' tournament. "What I saw from Tristan in these games was steady progress. He has a head start for main camp."
"It’s tough to keep the hockey IQ and the pace of the game," Luneau said. "Some of my reads, I have trouble right now just because I didn’t play games for a bit. That’s something I’m trying to work on in practice."
The Ducks invited a pair of right-shot defensemen to training camp on PTOs: Mark Pysyk and Gustav Lindstrom.
Pysyk (32) hasn't played an NHL game since April 2022. He underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tendon and has only managed to play 37 AHL games (in 2023-24) since.
Lindstrom was claimed off waivers by the Ducks on Jan 10 and played 32 games for the team, notching six assists.
Goalies
The Ducks are expected to start the 2024-25 season with John Gibson and Lukas Dostal as their tandem.
Gibson started 44 games for the Ducks in 2023-24, and Dostal started 38.
Unless there's an injury or unforeseen happenstance, the crease is the most solidified position on the Ducks' 2024-25 depth chart.
