Last season, the Anaheim Ducks didn’t accomplish much worth celebrating. A league-worst 23-47-12 record pushed their postseason drought into its fifth year, and a porous defense contributed to an often-hard-to-watch minus-127 scoring differential. When all that futility could have led to Anaheim landing a generational talent in the draft, the lottery awarded them the second-overall pick.
Related: Pat Verbeek’s Plan to Turn the Anaheim Ducks Into a Contender
The Ducks are on to the 2023-24 season, and the hope is that the multi-year rebuild starts to reap some on-ice benefits. While it’s hard to imagine them making a push for the playoffs in a top-loaded Pacific Division, there are plenty of things to look forward to this season. For example, there are plenty of individual milestones Ducks players will be looking to accomplish this year. From games played to scoring thresholds and even goaltender wins, here are some of the more reachable milestones for Ducks players this year.
Fowler, Seven Others Approaching Games-Played Milestones
There only being 82 games in a season means even a moderately healthy player will reach a hundred-game milestone every two years. So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that there are eight Ducks players looking to hit such a milestone within the first half of the season.
The first to come around should be Cam Fowler, who is only seven games away from the 900th in his career. That’ll be the most significant milestone for games played in Anaheim this year, as the next closest is newcomer Radko Gudas (18 games from 700). Additionally, Brock McGinn (16 games) and Frank Vatrano (18 games) will be looking to play in their 500th games by November. Sam Carrick, a veteran of 471 American Hockey League (AHL) games, is 37 games away from the 200th in his NHL career.
Several members of the Ducks’ future core are also approaching some early milestones. Mason McTavish (11 games) will appear in his 100th game before his 21st birthday, and Trevor Zegras only needs 20 games to reach 200. Troy Terry is 26 games away from his 300th. Terry, who will turn 26 years old in September, had a slow start to his professional career after spending three years at the University of Denver and spending two seasons split with the Ducks and San Diego Gulls of the AHL.
Zegras Eyeing Goals, Assists & Points Milestones
As a result of being an incredibly young team, there aren’t any lofty goal milestones to look forward to. It may not be the most significant accomplishment for Zegras, but the next goal he scores will be the 50th of his career. Offseason addition Alex Killorn is only two goals away from his 200th. Fowler (nine goals) has a great chance of hitting 100 career goals, and Terry is sitting at 75 career goals. A 25-goal season is well within the capacities of a former 37-goal scorer, but it is worth noting that injuries limited him to only 23 goals last year.
As with goals, the Ducks only have a few smaller assist milestones to look forward to, but they should be easily attainable. Jakob Silfverberg needs only seven helpers to hit 200 for his career. Vatrano (12 assists) and Zegras (10 assists) are closing in on their 100th career apples.
Anaheim has a handful of players in reach of a point milestone. Ryan Strome ended last season with 398 career points, so his 400th point should come early in October. Adam Henrique (21 points) and Killorn (34 points) are well within their season averages to reach 500 points. Terry only needs 24 points for 200, and readers more adept in math could have already come to the conclusion that Zegras needs 11 points to reach 150.
Gibson, Giguere & Goaltender Wins
I’m not much of a fan of attaching a win/loss record to a goaltender’s resume. There’s a lot more to winning and losing games than the literal last line of defense, and forcing them to wear a win/loss record like any counting stat feels cruel. There may be no better case for this in the NHL than John Gibson, but he is approaching a few notable milestones with the stat. If he can win 20 games for the first time since 2019-20, he’ll be the second Ducks’ goaltender to reach 200 wins with the franchise. The only goalie to do it before him, Jean-Sebastian Giguere, sits at 206 wins in Anaheim.
Giguere’s title as the most important goaltender in franchise history has remained largely unquestioned in the decade-plus since his departure, but Gibson can carve a piece of his own legacy with 26 more wins. He may not get to enjoy the same playoff success as his predecessor, but this milestone would be a testament to his overall consistency while Anaheim has gone through its lowest points as a franchise, all while cyclically a part of trade rumors. Even if the 20 wins may be a little out of reach for Gibson this season, I believe victories number 200 and 207 will be in a Ducks uniform.
Even with minimal expectations as a team, these milestones give Ducks fans something to look forward to this season. While very few of them are considered significant thresholds, we should see even more in the coming years as the younger players, like Zegras, McTavish and Terry, continue to mature in the NHL.
