San Diego Gulls Season Preview 2024-25

By Thomas Harrington

The 2024-2025 season for the San Diego Gulls begins on Saturday against Toronto. When the Gulls first became Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, they saw immediate success, qualifying for the Calder Cup Playoffs in three of their first four years. Unfortunately, the Gulls have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons, and were swept in the preliminary round the year before that. The Gulls are anxious to get back to the postseason. One thing that will hopefully help is a consistent voice behind the bench. For each of the three previous seasons, the Gulls have had a different head coach. Matt McIlvane will return as the head coach for the second straight year. On paper, the Gulls look to have a deep team. They certainly aren’t guaranteed to make the playoffs, but hopefully they’ll be in the race for much of the year unlike the past couple of seasons.

The Gulls will look a bit different in net this year. Last season, Calle Clang and Tomas Suchanek received the majority of the starts. Unfortunately, Suchanek is injured and will miss most, if not all, of the season. The Ducks signed Oscar Dansk, and he and Clang should get a majority of the starts this year. This will be Clang’s second full season in the AHL, while Dansk has over 170 AHL games on his resume.

Vyacheslav Buteyets will start the season in the ECHL but will likely get called up and get some AHL games at some point. The Ducks also claimed James Reimer off of waivers. Once John Gibson is healthy, he’ll probably go back on waivers. If he clears, he’ll probably be assigned to the Gulls, giving San Diego four options in net.

Right now, San Diego’s defense consists of Noah Warren, Dillon Heatherington, Drew Helleson, Tyson Hinds, Rodwin Dionicio, Roland McKeown, and Roman Kinal. It’s possible that Tristan Luneau could be assigned to the Gulls at some point this season, but that will depend on how he’s doing in the NHL. I could see some of these players getting called up to Anaheim, but I don’t think it would be for any significant portion of the season. Defenseman Andrew Lucas was recently assigned to the ECHL and will likely be called up and get some time with the Gulls this season.

This will be Warren and Dionicio’s first professional seasons, while Hinds will be suiting up for his second, and Helleson for his third. Heatherington and McKeown are AHL veterans, both with almost 500 games of experience each. This will be Kinal’s second professional season; he split last year between the AHL and ECHL.

At forward, the Gulls have Josh Lopina, Jan Mysak, Pavol Regenda, Nikita Nesterenko, Coulson Pitre, Nathan Gaucher, Carson Meyer, Yegor Sidorov, Nico Myatovic, Ryan Carpenter, Travis Howe, Sam Colangelo, Jansen Harkins, and Judd Caulfield. I doubt any of Anaheim’s forwards will be assigned to the Gulls this year, while it’s possible that any of Regenda, Nesterenko, Gaucher, or Colangelo could spend significant time with the Ducks. Forwards Sahsa Pastujov and Jaxsen Wiebe were assigned to the ECHL shortly before the season began and both should see time with the Gulls this season.

Meyer, Carpenter, and Harkins represent San Diego’s veteran forwards; all three are brand new to the team. Regenda and Nesterenko are two of Anaheim’s older prospects and both have some NHL experience. Both will be counted on to shoulder much of the offensive burden for the Gulls when in the AHL. Lopina is entering his third professional season and is coming off a very strong sophomore campaign. Mysak was acquired toward the end of last season and will be looking to establish himself more with the Gulls. Gaucher was counted on to be San Diego’s third line center for much of last season and will hopefully see more top six time this year. Caulfield was quietly one of San Diego’s more impressive forwards last year and will hope to be even better this season. This will be Pitre, Sidorov, Myatovic, and Colangelo’s rookie season. Of them, Colangelo has the highest expectations after what he did at the end of last season in both the AHL and NHL. Howe will likely primarily be used on the fourth line. He plays a physical brand of hockey and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves.

As is the case most years, there are a number of Anaheim prospects who could join the Gulls towards the end of their season. Players in Canadian Juniors like Carey Terrance, Ethan Procyszyn, Maxim Masse, Konnor Smith, Vojtech Port, Tarin Smith, and Beckett Sennecke could all join the Gulls when their season ends. They don’t need to be signed to their entry-level deal with the Ducks or be finishing their junior career. As long as their season ends early enough, they could sign an ATO, finish the year with the Gulls, and then return to juniors next season. That’s what Konnor Smith did last season. However, they’ll all be hoping to go deep in their respective leagues and make the Memorial Cup. If that happens for any of them, don’t expect to see them in San Diego. Rimouski of the QMJHL will be the host of the 2025 Memorial Cup, giving them an automatic berth in the tournament. As a result, Alexandre Blais will definitely not be joining the Gulls this season.

Players in the NCAA will need to sign a professional contract to join the Gulls, meaning their college career would be ending. The Ducks have a number of prospects in the NCAA, but I think Ian Moore is the most likely prospect to turn pro when this season ends. This is Moore’s final year of college hockey, and if he doesn’t sign with the Ducks, he’ll be a free agent in August. I think the rest of Anaheim’s college prospects will all spend at least one more year in the NCAA after this one.

Anaheim has one of the deepest prospect pools in the league, and several of them will be suiting up for the Gulls this season. With a number of returning players and consistency behind the bench, hopefully San Diego will be able to get off to a better start than last year and challenge for a playoff spot.

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October 12th, 2024