The Anaheim Ducks have missed the playoffs every year since 2017-18 and in doing so, have drafted in the top ten for seven consecutive seasons and procured one of the NHL’s deepest and most potent prospect pools.

Despite several young players having graduated and become full-time NHLers, such as Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger, the Ducks still have an impressive pipeline of potential impact and depth prospects yet to make the jump.

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For this exercise, only players who haven’t lost rookie status are eligible for a ranking, and to be clear, these are my (Patrick Present) subjective rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Yegor Sidorov, Herman Traff, Tarin Smith, Lasse Boelius, Calle Clang

Top Ten:

10. Nathan Gaucher, 21, C, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

9. Ian Moore, 23, RHD, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

It has been a long and arduous journey for Ian Moore to this point in his career, culminating in his professional hockey debut at the end of the 2024-25 season. Still, his transition was as smooth as could have been asked, and his game is as translatable as they come.

Moore’s blend of his 6-foot-3 frame, position demand, and skating ability alone will likely guarantee him over 100 games in his career at the NHL level. How many more he will play will be up to him, but he has all the tools necessary to play at the highest level for a long time.

Moore has the makings of a modern-day, two-way impact defenseman in the NHL who can contribute in all three zones and on each special teams unit. The aspect that most stands out upon first viewings is his skating: the stride is explosive, and the four-way mobility allows him to keenly defend rushes as he can make himself three lanes wide and influence attackers from the middle to the wall at the defensive blueline.

He’s shown more proclivity to join rushes than lead them, but his offensive impact comes from puck retrievals, snappy outlets, and mobility along the offensive blueline.

Moore is now five years removed from his draft (67th overall in 2020), but was seen as somewhat of a project when he was taken in the third round out of the prep school circuit in Massachusetts.

He had his first post-draft season, which would have been his freshman season at Harvard University, canceled due to the COVID pandemic and elected to play in the USHL for the Chicago Steel in 2020-21.

He played the next four years, his freshman to senior seasons, at Harvard University, where he refined his two-way details and served as the team’s captain in his final two seasons. He was forced to miss over six weeks in 2023-24 due to a lower-body injury.

Moore represented the United States at the 2022 World Junior Championship, where he tallied an assist in five games, but the US failed to medal and lost in the quarterfinal.

Moore made his professional debut on March 21, 2025, after signing an ATO (Amateur Tryout) with the San Diego Gulls. He played nine games in the AHL and scored five points (1-4=5) while receiving power play and penalty kill time before he signed his two-year ELC with the Ducks on April 12.

He played three games with the Ducks to end his 2024-25 campaign and tallied an assist while averaging 13:38 TOI with none of his ice time coming on special teams. In those games, he played a somewhat subdued, “meat and potatoes” brand with a focus on simplification and avoiding costly mistakes.

Moore will likely spend the majority, if not all, of the 2025-26 season with the Gulls in the AHL. The Ducks have Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, and Drew Helleson seemingly set to make up the right side of their blueline to start the season, and in the event of an injury to one of those three, he’ll be battling with 2022 second-round pick Noah Warren and 2024-25 AHL All-Rookie defenseman Tristan Luneau for the title of player most deserving of first call-up.

Moore’s age and polish could afford him the slight edge over the other two, and despite the need for further refinement, it’s clear he can play and contribute at the NHL level. He’ll likely never produce at a 40-point clip in his career, but he can further evolve his game and become an above-average shutdown defender in the world’s toughest league.

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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images