This has been the most transformative offseason in recent memory for the Anaheim Ducks. With general manager Pat Verbeek’s contract nearing an end and a green light from ownership to do whatever it takes to end the organization’s seven-year playoff drought, the third-longest in the NHL, major surgery has been done to the makeup of team personnel. All of it in the name of making the playoffs in 2025-26.
“I think I see this team at a point to where my expectation of this team is to make the playoffs next year,” Verbeek said on April 19, following the firing of Greg Cronin as head coach. “I expect our group to take a step, and so I'm going to be active and aggressive in making our team better.”
Since that date, the roster has undergone a significant facelift, with the departures of long-time Ducks John Gibson, Isac Lundestrom, and Trevor Zegras, along with the additions of Chris Kreider, Ryan Poehling, Mikael Granlund, and Petr Mrazek.
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A brand new coaching staff will also be behind the Ducks’ bench in the upcoming season, with the newly appointed head coach, Joel Quenneville, being flanked by Jay Woodcroft and Ryan McGill and accompanied by Tim Army and Andrew Brewer.
“It has been a long, painful process, but we felt that we’ve reached a point where the rebuild is coming to an end,” Ducks co-owner Henry Samueli said following Quenneville’s introductory press conference. “It really is, and it’s time to take the step to becoming a perennial playoff contender and eventually (a) Stanley Cup contender.”
After the two worst seasons (by points percentage) in franchise history in 2022-23 and 2023-24, in which they totaled 58 and 59 standings points, the Ducks made a significant jump in 2024-25, improving by 21 points, escaping the basement of the standings, but still finishing 25th in the NHL and 16 points out of a wild card spot.
Most metrics suggest that a significant portion of that jump can be attributed to Anaheim's goaltending last season, indicating potential unsustainability.
Nonetheless, the goal is set and well-known. In most years, second wild-card teams average roughly 95 points, which would require another colossal jump in the standings. So that leaves those who follow the Ducks to ask their biggest question of the 2025 offseason: How can the Ducks improve by 35 standings points in two seasons?
The Ducks will be relying on four factors to accomplish their lofty goal: coaching, internal improvement from their youngest/most talented players, a repeatable output from the goaltending, and their veteran leaders staving off Father Time.
Coaching
The true impact of an NHL coach and coaching staff will be on full display in Anaheim in 2025-26. In Cronin’s two seasons behind the bench, the Ducks had the 25th and 32nd-ranked power play, the 31st and 29th-ranked penalty kill, and were 28th and 30th in terms of 5v5 expected goals for percentage.
Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL history with three Stanley Cup rings on his fingers. Jay Woodcroft ran very successful power plays as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks from 2008 to 2018, and McGill led some quality penalty kill units for the Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils from 2017 to 2025.
The staff Verbeek has assembled unquestionably has the potential to be one of the NHL’s elite, a vast improvement from the one behind the bench a year ago.
Internal Improvement
The Ducks project to start the season with at least seven U25 skaters playing in impactful roles on the nightly depth chart: Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, and Drew Helleson. More could be added to that list in the form of Sam Colangelo, Nikita Nesterenko, and Tristan Luneau, with the outside possibility of Beckett Sennecke and Stian Solberg.
Focusing just on the first seven mentioned, the Ducks will be relying on all of them to take substantial leaps in their development. LaCombe had a breakout season ago, establishing himself as the team’s top blueliner, while Gauthier, Carlsson, and McTavish all displayed glimpses of how dominant they can be on a shift-to-shift basis. They will have to turn those flashes into elongated, consistent performances if the team is to realize its potential in the upcoming season.
Goaltending
Lukas Dostal has established himself as one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL, posting league-average traditional stats and above-average underlying numbers behind some of the poorer defensive teams in the NHL.
Dostal now has the reins as the Ducks' starter for the foreseeable future and the one who projects to start the team’s first playoff game, whenever that goal has been reached.
He will likely play more than he ever has and in as condensed a schedule as he’s ever experienced in his young career. The challenge will be maintaining his effort while avoiding fatigue as the season grows longer toward the latter portion of the 82-game slate.
He has the composure, skill, and drive to do so, and he will now have the opportunity. If the Ducks indeed make the playoffs, don’t be surprised to see Dostal’s name on some Vezina ballots.
Aging Veterans
The Ducks have one of the most talented young cores in the NHL. That core will be surrounded and insulated by an abundance of veterans on the opposite side of 30 years old.
Alex Killorn, Frank Vatrano, Ryan Strome, Chris Kreider, Mikael Granlund, Jacob Trouba, and Radko Gudas will all play key roles in the upcoming season and will have to elevate the platform that the young players are set to launch off.
All of those veterans have shown signs of declining games at different points in their careers, but have also shown the ability to evolve and remain impactful players as well.
Gudas had such a profound impact in his first season as a Duck in 2023-24, it earned him the captaincy in 2024-25. Kreider is just one year removed from back-to-back-to-back 35-plus goal campaigns. Granlund has eclipsed the 60-point mark in three of the last four seasons, including 61 points in 2024-25, playing for a bottom-dwelling Sharks team before he was traded to the Dallas Stars. These players are more than capable of continuing or returning to these levels despite approaching the final laps of their careers.
Father Time is undefeated, but the Ducks veterans will have to keep him at bay for one more season if this is the year the playoff drought is to end.
The team is counting on a lot to go right in the upcoming season, but if it does, another 15-point jump in the standings isn’t out of the question. However, the “ifs” are plentiful and will carry a heavy load.
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