First-round talent and a reigning CHL Player of the Year anchor this deep dive into the high-ceiling stars poised to stabilize Anaheim’s next competitive window.
In the final part of this series, we’ll take a look at the very best of what the Anaheim Ducks prospect pool has to offer. This list features four players drafted in the first round of the last three NHL Entry Drafts, as well as the 2025-26 CHL Player of the Year.
These five players are not only expected to complement the Ducks’ current young core, which includes stars like Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, and Jackson LaCombe, but also to add to and stabilize it as the Ducks lean into their hopefully long competitive window.
These players all have top-of-the-lineup NHL potential, and if any number of them reach it, the Ducks will be in a position of luxury moving forward in their build.
Author’s Note: To qualify for this list, players must be rookie-eligible in 2026-27. Unfortunately, that disqualifies Tristan Luneau from this particular exercise.
Catch up on Prospects 6-20 here:
In reverse order, let’s dive into the Anaheim Ducks’ top five prospects heading into the 2026-27 season:
5. Maxim Masse, 20, University of Massachusetts (NCAA)
RW, 6-foot-3, 198 pounds, 66th overall in 2024
Masse ended his junior career on an impressive note, leading the QMJHL in scoring with 102 points (51-51=102) in 63 regular season games and adding 24 (6-18=24) in 20 playoff games as his Chicoutimi Sagueneens won the QMJHL Championship. He was only able to add a goal in four Memorial Cup games, but he was the QMJHL Most Valuable Player and CHL Player of the Year for his performance in 2025-26.
Masse isn’t necessarily a playmaker or driver, but his off-puck skills are what will likely carry him as a college player next season and a professional in the future. He’s an effective straight-line skater and is an adept forechecker, affording him a versatile skill set. He possesses one of the better releases in the Ducks pipeline, and he finds his way to soft ice consistently to get it off.
Masse was able to manufacture more puck touches in his final junior season and will look to build on that in his first NCAA season at UMass. To thrive at the next level, he’ll need to round out his cycle game, but his knowledge of angles, lanes, and pressure raises his ceiling to that of a top-six forward.
NHL Arrival Prediction: 2027-28
4. Marcus Nordmark, 18, Djurgardens IF (SHL)
LW, 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, 28th in ’26
Nordmark is the epitome of “boom or bust” and was one of the most talented forwards in the 2026 Draft, based on pure skill. The Ducks even traded a fourth-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights to move up a single spot in the first round to draft him. He was highly productive at the J20 level in Sweden during his draft year and signed his ELC with the Ducks this summer, but it’s likely he’ll head back to play in the SHL this autumn.
Nordmark’s defining features include some of the most important attributes a scoring winger in the NHL can possess: quick, heavy release, vision, and hockey sense. His deficiencies include consistency, skating, and willingness to physically engage. If he’s not in a scoring role, he’s unlikely to succeed in the NHL. However, if the Ducks can refine his motor and tenacity, they’ll have a bona fide star on their hands. These are the kinds of gambles teams are asked to take by their fanbases in the late first round and into the middle rounds of the draft. He’ll either become a Kyle Connor-type offensive juggernaut or an Arthur Kaliyev-type inconsistent, one-dimensional player. There appears to be no in-between, but it was a good bet for the Ducks to make at that point in the draft, given the well-rounded nature of their current pipeline and young core.
NHL Arrival Prediction: 2028-29
3. Stian Solberg, 20, San Diego Gulls (AHL)
LHD, 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, 23rd in ’24
Playing for the Gulls in the AHL in 2025-26 was Solberg’s third straight season with a different team after he was drafted in 2024 from Valerenga of his native Norway’s top professional league and spent most of 2024-25 with Farjestad BK in the SHL. In his rookie AHL season, he notched 24 points (12-12=24) in 71 games and accumulated a substantial 102 PIMs.
Operating like a young, modern-day Jacob Trouba, Solberg’s signature trait is his physicality; he thrives in the tough areas of the ice while manufacturing a surprising number of goals by activating along the blueline and downhill into the high slot. He’s incredibly difficult to play against, and he forces opponents to earn inside ice in the defensive zone. He can fend off a forecheck and ignite a breakout with a crisp, accurate first pass, but he’ll need to iron out his gap control and angling to thrive as a shutdown defender at the NHL level. He’s currently firmly No. 4 on the Ducks organizational depth chart on the left side of their blueline, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s the first call-up among defensemen should Anaheim be in need.
NHL Arrival Prediction: 2026-27
2. Nikita Klepov, 18, Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
RW, 6-foot, 180 pounds, 15th in ’26
Significant pressure was placed on Klepov’s shoulders when, after he was selected with a pick acquired in exchange for Mason McTavish, general manager Pat Verbeek stated that had he been unavailable at 15th overall, the Ducks would not have made the trade.
Klepov was the OHL’s leading scorer in 2025-26, notching 97 points (37-90=97) in 67 games and adding five (1-4=5) in four playoff games. He was involved in a surprising turn of events following Ducks development camp, as he was originally committed to attend Michigan State University for the 2026-27 season to kick off his collegiate career, but the Ducks decided to ink him to his three-year ELC, rendering him ineligible for NCAA hockey. Now the options for the Ducks this season are to either keep him in the NHL or send him back to Saginaw to resume his junior career.
The Ducks also have the option to utilize the “Shane Wright Plan,” where he spends the first portion of the season in the NHL, perhaps joins the Gulls on a conditioning stint, plays in the World Junior Championship, and finishes the year in the OHL. Where he plays will ultimately be determined by how he arrives at and performs in Ducks rookie and training camps.
Klepov has an NHL-ready brain, motor, and skill set. He’s a cycle quarterback, always with the puck on his stick, working low in the zone, moving to the top of the circles, across the blueline, and initiating give-and-gos as a true offensive tactician. He consistently wins pucks back in the offensive zone and along the walls, but will need to increase his strength and add to his frame to carry that to the NHL level.
Klepov’s ceiling is that of a top-line, highly productive player who could see NHL minutes as early as Oct. 2.
Ducks director of amateur scouting and assistant general manager Martin Madden once said of Beckett Sennecke (before his rookie season) that he was one good summer of strength training away from becoming a full-time NHL player. Pat Verbeek said of Klepov that he could be on a fast track to the NHL. If the same logic applies and Klepov arrives at camp after a good summer of adding strength, there’s a real possibility he’s on the Ducks’ opening night roster. The team will certainly need a boost after a summer where they were unable to add significantly to their group, and with top-six forward Troy Terry expected to miss the first 2-3 months of the season.
NHL Arrival Prediction: Opening Night 2026-27
1. Roger McQueen, 19, San Diego Gulls (AHL)
C, 6-foot-5, 197 pounds, 10th in ’25
Of the Ducks prospects who haven’t “graduated” to the NHL, McQueen was selected the highest (10th overall) and had the talent to go top-five in the 2025 draft were it not for a back injury that cost him the majority of his draft year. It’s clear who the top two prospects in the Ducks system are, and it’s a coin flip on any given day who holds the title at the top. The reason McQueen edges out Klepov in this particular exercise is the premium position McQueen plays (center) vs. Klepov on the wing.
McQueen signed an ATO with the San Diego Gulls to finish his 2025-26 campaign, where he played his freshman season at Providence University and scored 27 points (11-26=27) in 36 games. The production wasn’t necessarily impressive, but given that he was coming off a significant injury, with significant development time lost, and played in a pro-style program in the NCAA, where he still finished third on his team in points (two points behind the leader), one would be hard-pressed to label his season as anything but a success.
Talent-wise, McQueen has it all. He’s long, powerful, has elite puck skills, a quick, heavy release, covers a lot of ice with his stride, and has the brain to make plays at high speeds or in tight spaces. Providence elevated his details and habits to the point where there wasn’t much of an adjustment period to the AHL when he made the jump to San Diego.
Like with the vast majority of prospects, adding strength will be necessary to play the style he’ll project to play at the NHL level, which is that of a player hard to defend due to his protection skills, IQ, and change-of-pace ability. In the flow of a game, he could stand to be stronger on his edges to drive more power through his lower half, as well as move his feet more consistently with the puck on his stick, dictating play to a higher degree.
Though Verbeek has mentioned his preference to give McQueen a long runway, if he proves to progress quickly in rookie camp, training camp, and/or the start of the season, he could fill an important, immediate need on the Ducks’ depth chart with Terry injured and the team’s previously relied-on secondary scoring (Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn, Frank Vatrano) either due for another subtraction or facing potential regression caused by advanced age.
NHL Arrival Prediction: 2026-27
