As the Anaheim Ducks wind down their final 25 games of the 2023-24 season, all that’s left to play for is pride and lottery odds. This was another rebuilding season for the Ducks (20-34-3, seventh in the Pacific Division) as injuries and inconsistencies tested the young roster and extended Anaheim’s playoff drought to a franchise record-extending sixth season.
Related: 4 Potential Trade Destinations for Ducks’ Adam Henrique
Before we jump into the 2024-25 season, we should look at the players who need new contracts. Part of the process of a rebuilding team is shedding burdensome contracts and creating cap space for younger, high-end talent and free agency. With 11 contracts set to clear the books in the offseason, the Ducks have about $52 million invested in the 2024-25 season and will need to spend over $12 million to get to the expected salary cap floor. They’d have roughly $35 million in space before reaching the reported upper limits of the salary cap. Still, that sort of spending would be a drastic pivot from a team currently playing with the second-most cap space in the league.
Today we’ll be taking a look at the players who are pending unrestricted free agents. Several of these names could be dealt by the March 8 trade deadline, as general manager Pat Verbeek continues to flip expiring contracts for assets.
Adam Henrique
The most likely player to be traded is Adam Henrique. The 34-year-old is one of the better center options available on the market, and previous trades involving Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm would suggest the Ducks will get a decent haul in return. He has 37 points this season, including 18 points in his last 19 games.
Henrique has been one of the most consistent producers for Anaheim during this multi-year rebuild and is a fan favorite. However, the Ducks are still rebuilding and will need another year or two before returning to the playoffs, and by then Henrique will be into his late-30s. He has been remarkably steady, but a new contract from the Ducks betting on his continued production would be an unnecessary risk for a team trying to maximize its competitive window.
Jakob Silfverberg
After a few down years and an expiring contract, this season felt like a swan song for Jakob Silfverberg’s career in the NHL. However, the 33-year-old Swede has had a bit of a rebound season. His scoring is still down, and the 25-point threshold is probably his ceiling moving forward. His biggest turnaround has been on the defensive side, where he’s anchored Anaheim’s third line. He’s utterly stifled opposing chances for most of the year. He’s one of three Ducks players to be on the ice for more scoring chances for than against, and the other two players (Leo Carlsson and Isac Lundestrom) have a smaller sample size skewing their numbers. Offensive play in general tends to shut down whenever he’s on the ice — opponents shoot just 3.15% while the Ducks shoot at a 5.13% clip.
At his age and pace of play, a huge free agency payday is out of the question. As opposed to taking a cheap deal and relocating to a new NHL city, the two most likely outcomes to continue his career are re-signing in Anaheim or returning to Sweden. The Ducks have had trouble developing wingers, and there’s no in-house replacement for Silfverberg ready for a call-up. As a result, a one or two-year deal to stay in Southern California feels more likely than it did a few months ago.
Sam Carrick
Sam Carrick has been one of the few feel-good stories during Anaheim’s rebuild. He spent the majority of his first 10 professional seasons playing in the American Hockey League, serving as the captain of the San Diego Gulls, as well as setting their new franchise points record. He finally broke into the NHL on a full-time basis during the 2021-22 season, appearing in 64 games and notching 19 points.
Carrick’s been a serviceable fourth-line center and penalty killer for the last few seasons, but the Ducks’ rebuild has brought in several high-end pivots that threaten to push him out of the lineup. Nathan Gaucher is a big, two-way center who will be in a Ducks’ uniform in due time, and the 20-year-old’s career timeline aligns better with Anaheim’s competitive window than the 32-year-old Carrick.
Ilya Lyubushkin
The Ducks acquired Ilya Lyubushkin from the Buffalo Sabres in August and it has always felt like the 29-year-old Russian was going to be flipped once again before the trade deadline. It’s a situation not too dissimilar from Dmitry Kulikov’s tenure in Anaheim last year when the Ducks flipped the late-offseason addition to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Brock McGinn and a 2024 third-round pick. Lyubushkin would be a depth-bolstering acquisition for a contending team, and I think he nets Anaheim similar value to Kulikov last year.
While there is a chance one or two of these players are brought back on a cheap deal, there should be a lot of roster turnover heading into next season. As we continue to look ahead at 2024-25, we’ll take a look at some of Anaheim’s pending restricted free agents later this week.
Salary cap data courtesy of CapFriendly. Statistics courtesy of Hockey Reference. Advanced data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
