Ducks Announce Season-Opening Roster

By Thomas Harrington

On Monday night, the Anaheim Ducks announced their season-opening roster. The roster was essentially set a few days ago, but the Ducks needed to finalize their goaltending situation to start the season. To get down to 23 players, here were the moves the Ducks made in the last few days: they placed goaltender Oscar Dansk on waivers and then assigned him to San Diego after he cleared, claimed goaltender James Reimer off of waivers, assigned goaltender Calle Clang to San Diego, and officially placed goaltender John Gibson on injured reserve to start the season.

The Ducks will carry 13 forwards: Trevor Zegras, Robby Fabrri, Ryan Strome, Alex Killorn, Troy Terry, Brett Leason, Isac Lundestrom, Mason McTavish, Brock McGinn, Ross Johnston, Cutter Gauthier, Frank Vatrano, and Leo Carlsson. There were no real surprises among this group. Gauthier is Anaheim’s only forward prospect to make the opening night roster. He led all Anaheim prospects in the preseason with two goals. 

Gauthier certainly won’t be the only rookie forward skating in Anaheim this year. Prospects like Nikita Nesterenko, Sam Colangelo, and Pavol Regenda are nearly a certainty to get called up at some point. Nesterenko and Colangelo were tied for the lead in preseason games played among Anaheim rookies with four. Others like Nathan Gaucher, Yegor Sidorov, and Sasha Pastujov also have a chance.

On the backend, Anaheim will carry eight defensemen: Jackson LaCombe, Cam Fowler, Urho Vaakanainen, Brian Dumoulin, Radko Gudas, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, and Tristan Luneau. Luneau is the only rookie defenseman to make the opening roster and that is the biggest roster surprise to me. This is the second year in a row that he’s made the team out of training camp. However, after missing so much time with an injury last year, I figured he’d start in the AHL in order to get some games under his belt before the inevitable recall to Anaheim. Zellweger’s place in Anaheim was not assured coming into the season. He was among the final cuts last season but was recalled and ended up playing 26 games for the Ducks. If he had struggled during the preseason, there’s little doubt he would have started the year in San Diego.

With Luneau starting the year in Anaheim, there’s no other rookie defenseman from San Diego who I think will definitely get the call to the NHL. However, there are a few who definitely have a chance. Most notably is Drew Helleson, who made his NHL debut a couple of years ago and played in three preseason games. I could also see any of Tyson Hinds, Noah Warren, or Rodwin Dionicio getting called up if any of them are having good enough seasons with the Gulls.

In net, the Ducks will carry three goaltenders: Lukas Dostal, Gibson, and Reimer. Once Gibson is healthy, Reimer will likely be placed on waivers. At that point, who knows if he’ll clear or not, but a veteran presence in goal for the Gulls would be beneficial for them. It wasn’t that surprising to see the Ducks claim Reimer; Clang didn’t have a great preseason and doesn’t look quite NHL ready yet. Combine that with the fact that the Ducks open with back-to-back games in San Jose and Las Vegas, and that wouldn’t have been a great situation to put Clang into. By bringing in Reimer, the Ducks have a more reliable presence in net to be the backup until Gibson is healthy. If Clang can have a great year for the Gulls, he may get a chance in the NHL later this season, but he’s going to need to play much better than he did last season.

Anaheim’s season begins on Saturday against the Sharks. While many expect this to be another long season in Anaheim, if their young players can really step up, the Ducks may surprise a few teams. It looks like better days are ahead, but they aren’t here quite yet. Hopefully the Ducks can prove people wrong and be a much more competitive team throughout the season.

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October 8th, 2024