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2026-27 season preview: Anaheim Ducks

Photo credit: Corinne Votaw-Imagn Images

By Cynthia Ryley Delaney

Sep 29, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 29, 2026, 16:15 EDT

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The Anaheim Ducks were one of the busiest teams this off-season.

Was it a good off-season? No. Was it a bad off-season? Yes. Was it an entertaining off-season as a non-Duck fan? Absolutely.

After reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in over half a decade, the Ducks knocked off the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, before losing to the Western Conference champions, the Colorado Avalanche.

What has ensued this past off-season is absolute hilarity.

Who departed the Ducks this past off-season

The Ducks’ defence was not good in 2025-26, allowing 288 goals, fourth-most in the National Hockey League. Their blue line was not good, but it somehow got even worse.

Radko Gudas, their captain, was set to become an unrestricted free agent, so they traded him to the Florida Panthers for another unrestricted free agent, former Calgary Flame A.J. Greer. They signed Greer to a four-year deal, but put a pin in that.

They also lost their other two right-shot defencemen, as Jacob Trouba signed with the San Jose Sharks and John Carlson with the Tampa Bay Lightning. To somehow make their blue line even worse, the Ducks traded away Owen Zellweger. They sent him to the Buffalo Sabres, acquiring a 2026 second and a prospect.

Another pin to put in it, whatever it is, is Chris Kreider being waived and terminated. Last season, he scored 22 goals and 50 points in 75 games, so on a surface level, this is a pretty dumb move. But it makes sense, even if it’s a dumb reason.

Other moves saw the Ducks trade 2021 third overall pick Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for a pair of picks, selecting Nikita Klepov and Marcus Nordmark. Jeffrey Viel signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Ottawa 67’s legend Petr Mrázek remains a free agent.

Who’d the Ducks bring in

Okay, let’s discuss the two things I told you to put a pin in. If you haven’t followed the Ducks this off-season, I don’t blame you, but a lot happened. Starting with Greer, he signed a four-year deal with a cap hit of $4.25 million. Per PuckPedia, the Ducks had $40 million in cap space with seven players to sign.

Then came the Flyers.

There’s something funny about team beef that extends off the ice. The Montréal Canadiens gave Sebastian Aho an offer sheet a few years ago, so the Carolina Hurricanes gave and signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet the next off-season. It’s dumb, but the Flyers/Ducks beef is even dumber.

Back in 2024, Cutter Gauthier was a college-based player who demanded a trade out of Pennsylvania (I guess Massachusetts at the time, two names of States I cannot spell very well, by the way). He ended up in the home of Disneyland, but that caused a rift between the two teams. They somehow managed to get a trade done in the summer of 2025.

Three vital pieces of the Ducks were restricted free agents this season, including Gauthier, who scored 41 goals and 69 points in a breakout season. While he wasn’t offer sheet eligible, the same couldn’t be said for Leo Carlsson. The Flyers gave him a five-year deal worth $18 million annually, with the Ducks matching, making the 21-year-old the highest-paid player in the NHL this coming season.

Remember that $40 million to sign seven players? Well, the Ducks lost nearly half of that by matching Carlsson’s offer sheet, with six players to sign, including Gauthier and defenceman Pavel Mintyukov. With a decimated defence that was already poor in 2025-26, the Ducks had to sign Mintyukov, agreeing to a five-year deal worth $7.2 million.

With barely any cap space remaining, at least in terms of locking up Gauthier, the Ducks had terminated a player who had just scored 22 goals and 50 points. Eventually, they managed to get Gauthier signed to a six-year deal worth $13.5 million.

Those three players took up $38.7 million worth of cap space, with the Ducks unable to really address the departure of four defencemen. They signed Nick Jensen, but by the Flyers handing Carlsson an offer sheet, the Ducks window of contention crashed before it really even had a chance to begin.

It’s a good lesson for other teams: lock up young players when they’re eligible for extensions instead of risking offer sheets. Another team learned that the hard way a couple of years ago, and it also cut their window short.

Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for DFO Calgary, DFO Edmonton, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.

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