Flush with cap space but facing a roster identity crisis, Pat Verbeek must decide if Mason McTavish is the long-term answer or if a new pivot is required.
The Anaheim Ducks are a week removed from an improbable run to the Western Conference semifinals, where they lost their second-round series to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
They achieved the goal they set out to achieve in the Spring of 2025: to make the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. The road was a long and winding roller coaster, and at the finish line, the outlook of the organization moving forward may have been altered slightly.
The Ducks enter the offseason with a projected $40.5 million in cap space. They are expected to have expensive extensions due to RFA forwards Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, along with some decisions to make involving RFAs in the subsequent tier, like Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.
They also have decisions to make along the periphery of their current and future roster with a slew of aging veterans who will soon see their current deals expire.
The Ducks roster has clear holes heading into the 2026-27 season, but an unexpected one appeared down the stretch of the regular season, into the playoffs, and eventually the 2026 offseason: second-line center.
After a long, arduous negotiation that lasted well into the team’s 2025 training camp, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek signed then RFA Mason McTavish to a six-year contract extension that carries an AAV of $7 million.
McTavish (23) was coming off a career-high 52 points (22-30=52) in 76 games in 2024-25 and projected to be the club’s second-line center for the foreseeable future as they aimed to turn the corner on their rebuild and begin contending perennially for Stanley Cups.
Though he missed roughly the first half of Ducks training camp, under a brand new coaching staff and having to learn a brand new system, McTavish got off to a hot start, as did his team as a whole.
He opened his 2025-26 campaign by scoring 19 points (6-13=19) in his first 26 games before cooling off dramatically in the middle portion of the season. He was moved to the wing for the final quarter of the season and finished with seven points (3-4=7) in his final seven games, heading into the playoffs.
“It was a unique kind of situation to start, missing a little bit of camp at the start, obviously not ideal. I thought the start of my year was actually decent, pretty good,” McTavish said during his exit interview. “It kind of went up and down throughout the second half there and in playoffs too.”
McTavish scored four points (1-3=4) in the Ducks’ first-round series win against the Oilers, but was scratched for Games 2 and 3 in the second round against the Vegas Golden Knights. He finished the playoff run with six points (1-5=6) in ten games, only averaging 12:25 TOI per game, a sizable decrease from his season average of 15:19 and his career average of 15:51.
“I’m happy with the way I handled it,” McTavish said on those healthy scratches. “Obviously, you never plan on getting scratched, and it sucks. I think you just got to kind of put your head down and keep working and go about it in a positive way.”
Alan Poizner-Imagn ImagesReflective of every team he’s played on (he’s played for three different head coaches in his four-year NHL career), McTavish has struggled mightily on the defensive side of the puck, specifically deep in his own end.
He’s added the necessary size, puck skill, and motor to become a puck battle winner in the tight areas of the ice. However, that skill has been exclusive to protecting and winning pucks back in the offensive end, as he lacks the skating ability and/or defensive fundamentals to evade defenders in neutral ice, eliminate time and space, stay with assignments, or strip attackers of possession.
“Round out my defensive game,” McTavish said on what he needs to improve on over the summer. “I think that’s probably the big thing. I think it kind of got better towards the end. I think just foot speed, too. I think maybe come in a little lighter.”
Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville and the system he’s implemented in Anaheim requires his centers to be true, goal line to goal line, 200-foot centers. McTavish’s lack of straight-line speed, explosion, and deft edges has greatly limited his development as an NHL center through the first 304 games of his NHL career, and was glaring under Quenneville’s play style and system.
Due to his scratches in the playoffs, McTavish’s future in Anaheim has come into question for the second summer in a row. If intentions are for him to re-establish himself as the Ducks’ 2C of the present and future, significant strides (pun intended) need to be taken to adjust the mechanics of every aspect of his skating capabilities.
If the Ducks are questioning his fit down the middle for their club, he could become a useful winger due to his heavy shot, forechecking ability, and board battle skills. The club could also move on from the former third-overall pick and trade him to fill a hole in their lineup, as he appears to have maintained value across the league.
Mikael Granlund provided the Ducks with some quality minutes, filling in as their second-line center in the latter months of the season and playoffs. However, he isn’t getting faster, taller, or younger, so if they run into a deep team down the middle, as they did against Vegas in the playoffs, they’ll likely be at a disadvantage.
Roger McQueen (10th overall in 2025) will see his ELC kick in for the 2025-26 season, giving the Ducks a potential long-term option for their now-perceived need for a second-line center. At just 20 years old and with the team’s contending window suddenly open, the Ducks may view that option as a bit too daunting for him to handle to begin his professional career.
The expectation for the Ducks moving forward is that they take yet another step toward contending consistently for Stanley Cups. They have some internal options, but if they’re to achieve that goal, they’ll need to address a new need down the middle, behind franchise center Leo Carlsson.