Zegras has become the face of the Ducks’ rebuild, and the sky seems to be the limit for him. While he didn’t enjoy as much scoring as he did in the WJC tournament and the AHL, his point totals were still nothing to sneeze at, scoring 3 goals and 13 assists in 24 games. Around February, Ducks fans’ wish came true, when Zegras was called up and subsequently made his NHL debut against the Arizona Coyotes. When he made his way to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, his scoring touch followed, scoring 10 goals and adding 11 assists in 17 games, leading Ducks fans and rival fans of the Gulls alike to ask how the Ducks hadn’t called him up. The 2019 first-round pick won the World Juniors MVP for Team USA last year, scoring seven goals and adding 11 assists throughout the tournament en route to Team USA’s gold medal. The aforementioned Trevor Zegras will be the guy that will bring eyes to the Ducks this year, and it’s not hard to see why.
The first-round selections in 20, Jamie Drysdale and Mason McTavish, are both shoo-ins to play Opening Night.Īll in all, depending on how Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins feels about his lines, the team could possibly have nine players under 24 years old in the Opening Night line-up. Troy Terry, Max Jones and Benoit-Olivier Groulx should provide complimentary scoring and energy. Trevor Zegras, Max Comtois and Isac Lundestrom infuse youth into the Ducks’ top-six forwards.
What will really make the Ducks interesting to pay attention to, though, is their young core that they’ve developed over the years. They’ve still got a decent bit of their core intact from the last time they made the playoffs, with players such as John Gibson, Hampus Lindholm, Adam Henrique, Jakub Silvferberg and Rickard Rakell all still around, as well as captain Ryan Getzlaf returning to the Ducks on a one-year, $4.5 million contract this summer - but given that the team is in a rebuild, it’s possible that unless they defy expectations and make a playoff push, some of those players may be sold at the trade deadline. Now, all three teams have entered a rebuilding state, and the Ducks are certainly no exception. It wasn’t that long ago that the California NHL teams were at the pinnacle of hockey, with the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks all being perennial playoff contenders, the latter two having three total Stanley Cups to their name, the Kings winning in 20 and the Ducks winning in 2007.īut the thing about the old days is that they’re the old days.
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