As was the practice for last year, Christian will be covering the majority of the Western Conference teams and I will take on the East, but with us covering each other’s teams for reasons of impartiality. As such, I kick things off by writing about the Ducks while he will take on the Flyers when the time comes.

Marred by injuries and ongoing growing pains/rebuilding efforts, the Anaheim Ducks, while taking steps forward in terms of being stingy and difficult to play against under new head coach Greg Cronin, were a lottery team again in 2023–24. This summer, their efforts were primarily centered on reaching the NHL salary floor and they attempted to continue the building of the youth contingent. This coming season will have a distinct energy with the “Orange Country” rebrand, but can we expect more of the same or will there be forward movement in general manager Pat Verbeek and the front office’s efforts to restore this franchise to its previous contender status that it held in ex-captain/current player development coordinator Ryan Getzlaf’s heyday? Let’s take a look at what direction they appear headed in.

The first acquisition in pursuit of floor compliance came the day after free agency ended when the Ducks received D Brian Dumoulin from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for their fourth-round selection in 2026. Aside from the team’s financial implications being catered to, I respected this as a move for the roster, as well. Dumoulin did not build upon his career-high in points (25) in 2022–23 in his sole season with Seattle last year (tallying just 16), but did set a new high in goals (6) in his changed capacity and different setting. The ex-Penguin also comes bearing the experience of having been on two Stanley Cup winners and having played alongside Kris Letang for quite some time. It is a sensible acquisition for building the backend and made sense culturally in a manner akin to the addition of Alex Killorn last summer. The next day, the Ducks also acquired C/LW Robby Fabbri and a conditional fourth rounder in 2025 from the Detroit Red Wings for AHL/ECHL G Gage Alexander. Fabbri doesn’t have a lot of dimensions to his game, but is a solid depth scorer who is capable of providing upwards of 15 goals in a bottom-six role. He’s coming off a season in which he tallied 18 goals (tied for a career high) and 14 assists in 68 games. He also has a Stanley Cup ring to his name from his time in St. Louis and will be a good presence in the dressing room. On the same days as the Dumoulin and Fabbri trades, the Ducks signed C Jansen Harkins and RW Carson Meyer to two- and one-year deals, respectively. Not overwhelming signings at all, but serviceable to line the bottom part of the roster with and to pursue the financial goals for the team and maintain an absurd amount of cap flexibility.

Anaheim bid farewell to nine free agents, among them Max Jones (Boston), William Lagesson (Detroit), Colton White (New Jersey), Benoit Olivier-Groulx (NYR), Trevor Carrick (Florida – AHL Charlotte), and Robert Hägg (VGK). They extended Urho Vaakanainen (1-year), Brett Leason (1-year), Jackson Lacombe (2-year), Pavol Regenda (1-year), and Nikita Nesterenko (1-year). Draft picks Beckett Sennecke and Stian Solberg were also signed to their three-year ELCs. More on them shortly.

Glen Cochrane, who had served as an important part of the scouting personnel specializing in Western Canada since 2007, passed away in January after a courageous battle with cancer, with the Ducks’ draft process in 2024 being dedicated to Cochrane and his family. While this is not included as part of the evaluation due to that being an absolute tragedy felt by many (it hit home for us as a brand with Cochrane also having served as Mark Howe’s protector on the blueline with the Flyers before Brad McCrimmon filled that role) and beyond anyone’s control, it is an important backdrop to place for sentimental purposes. Rest in peace to him and condolences to his family.

The Ducks had the third overall pick this time around. They went pretty far off the board, selecting RW Beckett Sennecke of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, to the surprise of even Sennecke himself. This selection is a lot to unpack. For a high selection and with other, more established and recognizable offensive weapons on the board, the selection does not look good at face value. Sennecke’s numbers in the regular season included 27 goals and 41 assists for 68 points in 63 games, a fairly pedestrian mark. His postseason run was quite impressive before it ended due to injury, with him registering 22 points in 16 games and seeming to have his shooting percentage skyrocket. Whether or not that surge represents true development or was just an unsustainable run remains to be seen. As it stands, in the Byron Bader model, Sennecke sits at just a 13% chance of becoming a star producer in the NHL and 49% of having a 200(+) game NHL career. However, it is worth providing the context that Sennecke underwent a significant growth spurt during the year. He cannot be assessed as a sure thing, but he may become something worthwhile at the NHL level after figuring out all the new working parts he has to deal with. With the 23rd overall pick originally belonging to Toronto, the team shored up their pipeline for the back-end by picking up Norwegian defenseman Stian Solberg of the EliteHockey Ligaen’s Vålerenga. The Oslo native is very much a classic DFD with a lot of grit, stamina, and hitting ability and has seen other dimensions of his game, particularly his skating, grow, and with the longer pathway for defensemen, while it is extremely unlikely that he ever grows to be a full TWD (and that’s okay!), it should be curious to see where he lands in terms of overall profile. Solberg will play on loan in the SHL with Färjestad BK and the Ducks faithful and management awaits with bated breath to observe how he performs in one of the world’s top pro leagues.

Anaheim had a better day 2 than most teams. In round 2 at 35th overall, they selected C Lucas Pettersson of Modo Hockey. The Swedish lefty shot didn’t make much of a mark in his five game stint in the SHL last season, not registering any points, but did excellently in the J20 Nationell, registering 57 points in 44 games and had a good showing at the World U18 Championships with 8 points in 7 games while taking home a bronze medal. I fully expect Pettersson to take steps up next season. RW Maxim Masse of the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens was a respectable selection at 66th overall (acquired from San Jose in exchange for Henry Thrun in 2023) in round three, with him tallying 75 points in 67 games in the regular season and serving as alternate captain for Chicoutimi. He also had a respectable postseason output of 6 points in 8 games and, most importantly, did well to announce himself early in his D-1 year (which tends to be a good sign, perhaps even more important than a statement D0 season), as his rookie numbers were a solid 62 points in 67 games. Definitely a good diamond in the rough selection by Anaheim. C Ethan Procyszyn of the OHL’s North Bay Battalion was also taken at 68th overall. He projects as likely a bottom-sixer in the NHL with his 0.58 PPG in the CHL in his DY, but he has an outstanding motor, physical presence, and defensive capabilities and has the potential to be more than capable in such a role. D Tarin Smith of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips marked another great selection in round three. With 44 points in 67 games, it is hard to imagine that he’ll be a full-fledged, worldbeating OFD in the NHL, but he has the skills to be a respectable contributor and has time to develop his all-around game. LW/C Alexandre Blais of the QMJHL’s Rimouski Océanic was also a good value pick at round four, 100th overall. His production stood at 84 points in 68 games played, which does require the context of him being an older player in this class as a November birthday. That said, he has much better potential than the majority of players available at such a phase in the draft. The Ducks finished their proceedings at the draft by taking RW Austin Burnevik of the USHL’s Madison Capitals (who will be attending St. Cloud State this coming year and had a solid campaign last season, posting 71 points in 61 games played while functioning as a good forechecker and smart player in the OZ) and solid Latvian TWD Darels Uljanskis (currently playing in AIK’s system in Sweden) at round six, 182nd overall and round seven, 214th overall. All told, FloHockey had five of Anaheim’s selections ranked in their top 100 going into the weekend at the Vegas Sphere and might’ve even gotten two really quiet sleeper selections in the final phases. While they mystified many to start off, they did alright for themselves when all was said and done.

Anaheim, understandably, kinda just did what they had to this summer. It was for the best because they got to the threshold they needed to while making smart moves in the process. Their draft was actually outstanding yet again despite the major question marks surrounding their first round one selection (not for no reason) and the non-flashy nature of their second. With them not expected to contend soon, I think Verbeek has done fairly well in providing flexibility, particularly with the obscene cap space and options. I think the worst thing you can say about Anaheim, really, is that despite filtering out some of their prospects and U25 options, they do still have a little bit (not a lot, but some) of work to do in terms of committing to a specific plan with who they can keep in the pipeline/amongst the youth contingent. That said, though, I will still give Anaheim a B+. When a team is kinda just performing the necessary functions, I won’t typically give them a grade in the A range unless they completely blow me away with their ingenuity in doing so and it’s not as though I explicitly approve of everything that was done. That said, they were far from sabotaging themselves and also did some impressive work not just establishing a baseline, but finding great value in the draft and rounding things out well on the roster more immediately, even if it isn’t something that totally changes the zeitgeist.