Anaheim Ducks

Pacific Division, Western Conference · 21 reports in the 2026-27 edition.

The club

2025-26 · 82 games · 224 for, 255 against

How it played

Shot attempts share, five-on-five: 52.4% 6th of 32
Expected goals share, five-on-five: 50.6% 12th of 32
Power play expected goals per sixty: 6.92 22nd of 32
Penalty kill expected goals allowed per sixty: 7.10 14th of 32

Where the record lies

Finishing goals scored above what the chances were worth: -12.1 25th of 32
Goaltending goals prevented beyond what the chances allowed were worth: -10.9 24th of 32

Anaheim Ducks scored 12.1 fewer goals than their chances were worth and got 10.9 fewer saves than the chances they faced warranted — 23 goals of the record that the underlying play does not explain. Both halves regress.

Roster shape

Points-weighted, so these are the ages and origins of the production rather than of the sweaters.

Average age: 26.8; weighted by points
From 33 and up: 23.3%; of skater points
From under 26: 52.5%; of skater points
Homegrown: 45.7%; drafted by this club
Continuity: 67.5%; of last season's five-on-five minutes

The read

the numbers, and the eye

3rd in the league at creating chances and 29th at preventing them, with a 20-year-old, a 21-year-old and a 22-year-old already carrying the scoring.

The eye and the numbers

Sighted

The book

27th of 32

The numbers

12th of 32

The numbers place it 15 spots higher than the book does. Every report underneath was written with these numbers on screen and the book departs from them anyway, which makes the gap a judgment rather than an oversight.

Both bars rank this club among the 32 in the edition. The report bar is the mean of its players' grades, weighted by the five-on-five minutes each of them played; the numbers bar is their expected-goal share on the same weighting. It counts 18 of the 21 reports on this roster — the rest have no five-on-five record long enough to weigh — and it reads the roster as it stands rather than the club's own last season.

Who the words reach 17 of 21 · 89% of the five-on-five minutes who is left out (4)

The bars above counted every man on the roster with enough ice time to weigh. The paragraphs name whoever they name, and no rule says who that should be — so this says who it was, over the write-up as a whole. Each section below reaches far fewer than this, which is the figure that matters: the section is where the selection happens, and the count sits under each one. The share is of the five-on-five minutes played by the 18 men on this roster who have a measured record.

Not named: Jeff Malott, Nikita Nesterenko, Frank Vatrano, Tim Washe.

Who this names 6 of 21 on the roster · 40% of their five-on-five minutes details

Both columns above are searched, and a name counts on the same terms the page links it: in full always, by surname only when one man in the edition wears it. Nothing here says who ought to be named — only who was, so the weighting can be seen rather than guessed at.

Not named here: Lukas Dostal, Cutter Gauthier, James Hamblin, Drew Helleson, Ville Husso, Nick Jensen, Alex Killorn, Jeff Malott, Pavel Mintyukov, Ian Moore, Nikita Nesterenko, Ryan Poehling, Troy Terry, Frank Vatrano, Tim Washe.

What the Quant Says

A club that has solved one half of the rink. Anaheim was 3rd in the league in even-strength expected goals per 60 and 6th in shot-attempt share — and 30th in expected goals against, conceding 288. It scored 273, having finished 12.1 goals below expectation, 25th.

The scoring is arriving young: 60 points from a 19-year-old rookie, 67 from a 21-year-old centre, 41 goals from a 22-year-old, 58 points from a 25-year-old defenceman. The goaltending came in 10.9 goals worse than the chances faced, 24th, and continuity is 67.5 per cent, 27th. Everything good here is under 25 and everything unresolved is behind them.

What the Scout Says

A young, fast, genuinely skilled club that has not yet learned to defend, with a small number of veterans brought in to show it how. Leo Carlsson is 6-3 and handles the puck like a smaller man, protecting it below the dots with his back to pressure and waiting, because a defenceman who has committed cannot uncommit. Cutter Gauthier's release is the skill. Beckett Sennecke is 6-3 with hands that belong on a smaller player. Jackson LaCombe skates the puck out of trouble rather than passing it out, and the club has built its breakout around him.

What has been added is instruction rather than muscle. Chris Kreider is still the fastest big man on the ice most nights and goes straight at the net with the puck or without it, and he is the standing demonstration of an alternative to shooting from the outside. Mikael Granlund plays the half-wall as well as anyone his age. A.J. Greer takes 113 penalty minutes, fights, and — the part that matters — has the legs to do it without being a passenger for the rest of the shift. The identity is young, quick and light, and the position it has not solved is the one in the net.

Who this names 8 of 14 forwards · 74% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: A.J. Greer, James Hamblin, Jeff Malott, Nikita Nesterenko, Frank Vatrano, Tim Washe.

What the Quant Says

The rebuild has arrived at the front of the roster. Anaheim generated 3.06 expected goals per 60 at even strength, 3rd in the league, behind only Colorado and Carolina, and 52.4 per cent of the 5-on-5 attempts, 6th. The names doing it are the point: Beckett Sennecke put up 60 points as a 19-year-old rookie, Leo Carlsson 67 at 21, Cutter Gauthier 41 goals at 22, and Jackson LaCombe 58 points from the blue line.

What did not follow was the finishing — 171 5-on-5 goals against an expectation of 183.1, a shortfall of 12.1, 25th. Sennecke's minus-12 is the number to ignore: the goals went 52-57 against him while the expected goals went 59.7 to 56.7 for. Chris Kreider at 35 is still the only man here who scores from the paint, taking 56 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet. Alex Killorn at 37 and Mikael Granlund at 34 are doing honest work on a team that does not need them to.

What the Scout Says

2 young forwards who could each carry a line, and a shape that is still learning where goals come from. Leo Carlsson already makes the delayed feed to the far post that most centres do not see until their late twenties, and he is not a perimeter player; he wins pucks by being hard to knock off balance rather than by hitting anybody, and there are shifts where a heavy pair simply outmuscles his line. Cutter Gauthier is the opposite construction — a straight-line skater who gets to his spot and fires, from further out than 40-goal scorers usually work, which is both the reason it is remarkable and the reason it is fragile.

Chris Kreider is the corrective. He screens, tips and takes the cross-check and stays, which is a hard skill and the one that ages best because it never depended on being quick, and nobody else here lives in that water. Beckett Sennecke has the hands and the frame is ahead of the strength, which 2 summers usually solves. Troy Terry works the half-wall and the goal line and can be removed from a game by a physical pair willing to do it every shift. Frank Vatrano's shot was always the trade and it has stopped working. Ryan Poehling makes the simple play on time and will not score his way into a bigger role.

Who this names 5 of 5 defencemen · 100% of their five-on-five minutes details

What the Quant Says

The half of the rink the rebuild has not reached. 30th in even-strength expected goals against at 2.82 per 60, and 288 goals conceded — a club that creates like a contender and defends like a lottery team.

LaCombe is the exception and the foundation: 1,497 5-on-5 minutes, more than anyone on the roster, 53.9 per cent of the shot attempts against the other team's best, and the goals 66-70 in his favour on a club outscored by 31. Behind him the picture is unresolved. Pavel Mintyukov is a 10th overall pick with 204 games at 22 and 3 seasons of results that have not moved — 48.1 per cent, 36th percentile, goals 42-50 against. Drew Helleson posted the worst underlying season of any regular here at the 19th percentile. Nick Jensen at 36 gives up shots and refuses to give up chances, which is the one veteran habit on this blue line worth copying.

What the Scout Says

One puck-carrier, one honest defender, and a great deal still to prove. Jackson LaCombe carries the puck out rather than passing it out and takes 19 penalty minutes across a full season of top-pair work, which says he is rarely in a position where he has to grab; against heavy forechecks he can be worn down, and that part of him has not been tested in a meaningful spring. Pavel Mintyukov is the other skater — he moves the puck up ice himself, joins as a fourth attacker, and has the feet to get back when it goes wrong — and 3 seasons in, the results have not moved.

Nick Jensen is the one who does the unglamorous half properly: he takes away the middle, lets you have the outside, and blocks the shot that results. Nobody else on this blue line concedes the perimeter deliberately, which is precisely what a club this young needs somebody to do. Drew Helleson's best quality is the physical one and he is not a puck-mover and is not used as one; Ian Moore is limited and unbothered about it and will not be beaten wide by an average winger. This is a group with 2 skaters, one teacher, and nobody who makes the front of his own net a bad place to stand.

Who this names 5 men details

The data does not say who takes these minutes, so there is no denominator to hold this against — a count of names is all it can honestly be. Both columns above are searched, and a name counts on the same terms the page links it.

What the Quant Says

Median rate, heavy workload. 7.10 expected goals against per 60, seventeenth, over 5:07 a game — the sixth-busiest kill in the league.

It is also a unit that has to be rebuilt: Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba took the hard shorthanded minutes last season and are in Florida and San Jose now. What remains is Nick Jensen, whose whole game is conceding shots and refusing to concede chances, and A.J. Greer's 113 penalty minutes on the other side of the ledger. On a club that already gives up the third-most chances at even strength, being shorthanded this often is the compounding problem: the frequency is the fault more than the rate is.

What the Scout Says

Thin, and honestly so. Ryan Poehling wins his share in the circle and supports the puck and does not attempt what he cannot do — 12 penalty minutes across a full season is discipline rather than absence in his case. Alex Killorn takes the ones that need taking and knows where to stand now that the foot speed has gone. James Hamblin is quick enough to forecheck and quick enough to get back, which is most of a shorthanded winger's job. A.J. Greer's legs are what separate him from the old version of his role.

The blue line is where the trouble is. Nick Jensen is the only man here whose entire method is taking away the middle and blocking what comes from outside it, and he cannot kill every penalty. Drew Helleson competes in front of his net; after that, the club is asking 2 young puck-movers to hold ground they are not built to hold. There is nobody on this roster who removes a heavy forward from the crease, which means the kill concedes the paint and hands the problem to a goaltender who is not yet ready to accept it.

The roster

Evidence 18 Full 2 Light 1 No record

No measured season behind one man: James Hamblin. His page carries an older stat line and a judgment, and nothing from 2025-26.

Leo Carlsson

#91

C · Anaheim Ducks

The centre the rebuild was for, and last season he started looking like it.

Lukas Dostal

G · Anaheim Ducks

The goaltender this club has committed to, coming off the season that made the commitment a question.

Cutter Gauthier

#61

LW · Anaheim Ducks

41 goals, and almost none of them from where you would expect a 40-goal scorer to stand.

Mikael Granlund

#64

C · Anaheim Ducks

651 career points, and a body of work that keeps outrunning the eye test.

A.J. Greer

#18

LW · Anaheim Ducks

The argument that the fourth-line tough guy has become a hockey player.

James Hamblin

#38

LW · Anaheim Ducks

5-10, undrafted, and 31 games without a single penalty minute.

Drew Helleson

D · Anaheim Ducks

6-3, a second-round pedigree, and the worst underlying season of any regular here.

Ville Husso

#33

G · Anaheim Ducks

A career .900 goaltender, and 2 straight seasons well below it.

Nick Jensen

D · Anaheim Ducks

Gives up shots and refuses to give up chances, which is a rarer skill than it sounds.

Alex Killorn

#17

LW · Anaheim Ducks

1,000 games, 2 Cups, and a role here that has quietly become teaching.

Chris Kreider

#20

LW · Anaheim Ducks

35, and still the only man on this roster who does his scoring from the blue paint.

Jackson LaCombe

D · Anaheim Ducks

48 assists and more ice time than anyone on the roster, and still not the name anyone leads with.

Jeff Malott

#39

LW · Anaheim Ducks

6-5, 71 career games at 30, and the best on-ice rate on the roster.

Pavel Mintyukov

#98

D · Anaheim Ducks

A 10th overall pick at 22 with 204 games behind him, and the numbers have not started agreeing yet.

Ian Moore

D · Anaheim Ducks

A minus-14 that the arithmetic refuses to blame him for.

Nikita Nesterenko

C · Anaheim Ducks

8 assists in 29 games from a sixth-round pick who keeps almost sticking.

Ryan Poehling

#25

C · Anaheim Ducks

A first-round pick who found a real job several years and several clubs later.

Beckett Sennecke

#45

RW · Anaheim Ducks

60 points as a 19-year-old rookie, and a minus-12 that says less than it looks.

Troy Terry

#19

RW · Anaheim Ducks

The most complete forward here, and the one most likely to be somewhere else.

Frank Vatrano

#77

RW · Anaheim Ducks

186 career goals, 5 of them last season, and underlying numbers that fell off the table.

Tim Washe

C · Anaheim Ducks

Undrafted, 25, and shooting from the right places without the puck going in.

How they were used

2025-26 · 82 games

Measured from shift charts at five-on-five, not projected. Units are built from the strongest partnership outward and ordered by how much they were used; the percentage is the share of the first player’s five-on-five ice time spent alongside each linemate. A low number means the club never settled on a combination. Players who have gone are marked — either to another club, or off an NHL roster altogether, which covers retirement and an unsigned summer alike.