As a rebuilding team, the Anaheim Ducks have plenty of storylines surrounding them that won’t involve final scores and standings placement. Expectations for the club aren’t high after a 27-50-5 record in 2023-24 extended their franchise-long playoff drought to six seasons, but the future is still bright. As the youth movement continues in Anaheim, here are five storylines to follow throughout the season, including an exciting new rookie, a much-needed rebound campaign, and a changing of the guard between the pipes.
Cutter Gauthier’s Rookie Season
Ducks fans have witnessed several high-profile rookie campaigns in recent years and the 2024-25 season will be no different. Anaheim acquired Cutter Gauthier from the Philadelphia Flyers in January in exchange for Jamie Drysdale and he’s set to have a big role in their top six in his first full season in the NHL. The 6-foot-2 power forward brings with him a devastating shot that helped him notch 38 goals in 41 games for Boston College last season. The Ducks have struggled to put the puck in the net, deploying a bottom-10 scoring offense every season since their last playoff appearance in 2017-18. Gauthier was brought in specifically to address this issue.
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A highly-anticipated rookie season comes with potential hardware, so Gauthier will be looking to capture the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Betting services are universal in giving him the fourth-best odds at the award behind Matvei Michkov, Logan Stankoven, and Macklin Celebrini. The highest a Ducks’ player has finished in the Calder vote was second place, twice: Trevor Zegras in 2021-22 and Bobby Ryan in 2008-09.
Trevor Zegras’ Bounce-Back Campaign
Between contract negotiations dragging into training camp, a head coach who loved to make an example out of him, and a pair of serious injuries that held him out of the lineup for 51 games, Trevor Zegras received a full serving of Murphy’s Law last season. When he was healthy enough to be on the ice, his production was all over the place — two points in 12 games from Oct. 14 to Nov. 7, five points in eight games from Dec. 23 to Jan. 9, and eight points in 11 games from March 26 to April 18. To end a nightmare season on a positive note, he finished the season on a five-game point streak.
As a playmaker and point producer, Zegras not only needs a rebound season, but he needs to find a higher gear. Being a 60-point player in his early 20s on a rebuilding team is impressive, but there’s more talent around him than ever. His 65 points were tied for 75th league wide in 2022-23 — not exactly where a team’s top scorer should rank. This could be the season he becomes a point-per-game player.
Frank Vatrano and the Trade Deadline
Even if the rebuild is nearing its conclusion, the Ducks must be smart with their assets. With the playoffs in Anaheim still a long shot, the 2025 Trade Deadline will give the team a chance to flip expiring contracts for futures. Frank Vatrano is Anaheim’s highest-profile pending free agent. The 30-year-old winger set career-highs in goals (37) and points (60) last season and figures to net the Ducks a solid haul at the deadline, especially if his production continues into this campaign. Newcomers Robby Fabbri and Brian Dumoulin are also unrestricted free agents after this season.
While the Ducks have the most salary cap space in the league, smart asset management will be paramount over the next few years. Gauthier, Zegras, Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, and Lukas Dostal will need new contracts before the start of the 2027-28 season, so the abundance of cap space is more of an illusion for now. We’ll have a better idea of the salary cap’s numbers and each player’s value in the coming years, but this diminishes the likelihood of a splashy trade.
Mintyukov, Zellweger, and the Defense
The Ducks have boasted one of the strongest defensive prospect pipelines and the system is beginning to bear fruit at the NHL level. Mintyukov and Zellweger figure to have prominent roles as Anaheim’s top two left-handed defensemen, with 23-year-old Jackson LaCombe and 20-year-old Tristan Luneau also likely to play big minutes as well.
How the defensive lineup is organized will be interesting. Each of the aforementioned defensive prospects profile as puck-moving offensive defensemen, with Mintyukov likely having the highest two-way ceiling. The Ducks trading up to draft Stian Solberg in July suggests physicality will also play a huge role on this blue line, and we could see a mix-and-match of playstyles among partners. A “thunder and lightning” pairing like Zellweger and Radko Gudas, where Zellweger primarily carries play from zone to zone and Gudas plays the conservative stay-at-home role, could work to get the most out of each skillset.
Is Gibson or Dostal Number One in Net?
The days of John Gibson being Anaheim’s workhorse goaltender appear to be a thing of the past. After a seven-season run of starting at least 63% of games within a season, he was given just 44 starts — the majority of a season, but his fewest share of starts since being in a tandem with Frederik Andersen in 2015-16. Lukas Dostal, in his first full season in the NHL, had a slight edge over Gibson in save percentage, and goals-against average, and capture one more win in six fewer starts.
With Anaheim’s sights set on the future, this may be the season Dostal sees the edge in starts. In all likelihood, that transition still looks like a 1A and 1B split, but it would be significant. The Ducks have been able to rely on solid goaltending since the inception of the franchise, from Guy Hebert to Jean-Sebastian Giguere, to Jonas Hiller and finally to Gibson — Anaheim’s eras can be neatly defined by their backstops. A pivot to Dostal would coincide with what should be the tail end of the rebuild and a new, youth-led era in Southern California.
How these storylines play out will greatly impact Anaheim’s rebuild. While we have these to look forward to, the season will bring plenty more. Whether it’s an injury, a late-game benching, or a heated moment with an opponent, there will be no shortage of talking points surrounding the Ducks.
