Anaheim Ducks

Pacific Division, Western Conference · 23 reports in the 2024-25 edition.

This is the 2024-25 edition — an archived read, written from that season alone. Read the 2026-27 club page →

The club

2023-24 · 82 games · 224 for, 255 against

How it played

Shot attempts share, five-on-five: 46.4% 27th of 32
Expected goals share, five-on-five: 45.9% 27th 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: -13.7 27th of 32
Goaltending goals prevented beyond what the chances allowed were worth: -8.4 21st of 32

Anaheim Ducks scored 13.7 fewer goals than their chances were worth and got 8.4 fewer saves than the chances they faced warranted — 22 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: 27.1; weighted by points
From 33 and up: 10.9%; of skater points
From under 26: 37.9%; of skater points
Homegrown: 49.4%; drafted by this club
Continuity: 67.5%; of last season's five-on-five minutes

The read

the numbers, and the eye

The worst penalty kill in the league, taking more shorthanded time than any club in hockey — and behind it, the deepest collection of young talent on any 59-point team.

Who this names 18 of 23 on the roster · 89% 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, John Gibson, Isac Lundeström, Brock McGinn, Urho Vaakanainen.

What the Quant Says

59 points, 27-50-5, and thirtieth in the league. Seventh in the Pacific, ahead of San Jose and nothing else.

The club was 30th at creating chances at even strength and 24th at suppressing them, and it finished 13.7 goals below what its own chances were worth. There is no rescue on this page. It was not unlucky and it was not badly served by its goaltending relative to everyone else; it was the second-least dangerous team in hockey and it played more shorthanded minutes than anybody.

The penalty kill is the single largest fixable number on this roster. Last in the league at 8.228 expected goals against per 60, over 6:08 a game.

What is genuinely there is the age. Leo Carlsson is 19 and second overall in 2023. Mason McTavish is 21 and third overall in 2021. Pavel Mintyukov is 20 and tenth overall in 2022. Olen Zellweger is 21, Trevor Zegras 23 and Jackson LaCombe 23. That is six first- or second-round picks under 24 already playing NHL minutes, and Carlsson took 50.0 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five — the only regular on the club at even chances — while his ice went 20-42. A nineteen-year-old broke even on the chances and lost by twenty-two goals, which is what a bad team does to a good player.

The counterweight is what surrounds them. Cam Fowler is 32 and played 24:25 a night to a minus-36. Alex Killorn is 35. Radko Gudas is 34. Ryan Strome is 31. The veterans are absorbing the hardest minutes and losing them, and the young players are learning the game inside a losing one.

The summer was small and old. Robby Fabbri and James Reimer arrived from Detroit, Brian Dumoulin from Seattle and Jansen Harkins from Pittsburgh; Jakob Silfverberg is off the roster, Sam Carrick went to the Rangers, Max Jones to Boston and Ilya Lyubushkin to Dallas. Dumoulin is the one addition whose numbers say anything — 54.4 per cent of the chances in Seattle, the 85th percentile, and the best figure any man on this roster produced last season. He is 33.

This is a club whose next two years are decided by whether Carlsson, McTavish and Mintyukov become what their draft positions say, and by nothing else here.

What the Scout Says

Two 6-5 wingers, a defenceman who has hurt people for twelve years, and a forward group that is mostly young and mostly light.

Radko Gudas is 6-0 and 208 with 971 penalty minutes in 748 games and is the reason opponents look up in this building. He finishes every check and he crosses the line often enough that the crossing is part of the deterrent. Ross Johnston is 6-5 and 232 with 400 penalty minutes in 202 games and plays eight minutes a night.

Brett Leason is 6-5 and 220 and does not play as heavy as the frame. Mason McTavish is 6-1 and 219 and is the hardest of the young forwards to play against — he finishes checks and he took 86 penalty minutes at 21.

Above that it is finesse. Troy Terry is 193 pounds, Frank Vatrano 5-11, Trevor Zegras 185 and Robby Fabbri 5-11 and 185. Leo Carlsson is 6-3 and 208 at 19 and the body has not arrived yet.

The blue line is size without pace. Brian Dumoulin is 6-4 and 215, Cam Fowler 6-2 and 213 and Jackson LaCombe 6-2 and 208. Olen Zellweger is 5-10 and 193 and defends with his feet.

Who this names 8 of 13 forwards · 72% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: Robby Fabbri, Jansen Harkins, Ross Johnston, Brett Leason, Brock McGinn.

What the Quant Says

204 goals, 30th in the league, and 30th at creating chances at even strength at 2.270 expected goals per 60. Both numbers agree and neither flatters the other.

At five-on-five the club scored 127 goals against an expectation of 140.7 — a finishing deficit of 13.7 goals, 27th in the league. Bad at making chances, then worse at burying them.

Frank Vatrano scored 37 goals on 272 shots at 13.6 per cent — eighteen per cent of everything the club scored — and he is undrafted. It is a career high by thirteen goals, at 30.

Troy Terry had 54 points, Mason McTavish 42 in 64 games at 21, Cam Fowler 34 assists from the blue line at 32, and Leo Carlsson 29 points in 55 games at 19. Nobody else reached twenty goals. Ryan Strome threw 30 assists and Alex Killorn scored 18 in 63 games.

What the Scout Says

One shooter, one distributor, and a nineteen-year-old who is already the best player on the ice most nights.

Frank Vatrano takes 272 attempts at a median of 35 feet with 27 per cent from inside 20 and converts at 13.6 per cent. The release is quick and it comes off the wrong foot as often as the right one. Thirty-seven goals on a club that scored 204 is the whole of this attack, and he was undrafted.

Troy Terry shoots from a median of 30 feet and threw 34 assists, and the 54 points hide that he scored 37 goals two seasons ago and 20 last year.

Close range belongs to the young. Mason McTavish shoots from a median of 24 feet with 42 per cent inside 20 and converted 14.62 per cent. Leo Carlsson shoots from a median of 26 with 42 per cent inside 20 at 11.01 per cent. Alex Killorn takes 42 per cent from inside 20. Isac Lundeström takes 65 per cent of his attempts from inside 20 feet at a median of 12 — the most net-front profile on the roster.

The distribution is Ryan Strome and Cam Fowler — 30 assists and 34 assists — and Trevor Zegras, who had 42 assists two seasons ago and played 31 games last year.

Who this names 7 of 7 defencemen · 100% of their five-on-five minutes details

What the Quant Says

295 goals against, 30th in the league, over a chance-suppression rate of 2.666 expected goals against per 60, which is 24th. The goals column is six places worse than the chances, and the six places are the crease.

At five-on-five the club conceded 174 goals against an expectation of 165.6.

The blue line was young and it was overrun. Cam Fowler played 24:25 a night and finished minus-36. Pavel Mintyukov's ice went 29-51 against an expectation of 37.51-43.59 at 20 — ten goals of scoring missing and seven conceded above expectation, the worst pair of numbers on the roster. Urho Vaakanainen's went 41-45 against 35.94-40.77. Jackson LaCombe took 45.7 per cent of the chances in 19:23 a night.

Radko Gudas was the only defenceman above water — plus-14 with 128 penalty minutes and 47.2 per cent of the chances, the best mark of any regular on the blue line.

What the Scout Says

A thirty-two-year-old playing far too much, a twenty-year-old learning in public, and one genuinely hard man.

Cam Fowler carries the puck out of his own zone rather than passing it out and he has done it for fourteen years and 974 games. He played 24:25 a night and finished minus-36, which is a first pairing asked to be a first pairing on a team that does not have one. He defends with position rather than force.

Radko Gudas finishes every check and takes the body first — 128 penalty minutes in 66 games, 971 in 748 for his career — and he was plus-14 on a club that was minus everything. He takes 84 per cent of his own attempts from beyond 40 feet and the shot is not the point.

Pavel Mintyukov carries it out and threw 24 assists at 20, and his ice was outscored 27-50. Jackson LaCombe skates well and blocks shots and is not yet strong enough for the front of his own net. Olen Zellweger is 5-10 and moves the puck and cannot clear a crease.

Brian Dumoulin was added and is the most defensively responsible man on the blue line — 626 games, 25 career goals, a career plus-96, and a first pass that is early and short. Urho Vaakanainen defends with reach at 6-2 and has one goal in 136 NHL games.

Who this names 3 of 3 goaltenders details

What the Quant Says

The club's goaltending came in 8.4 goals worse than the chances faced, 21st in the league. Not the worst in hockey and not close to good.

John Gibson went 13-27-2 with an .8876 in 46 games, facing 1,343 shots. He has a career .9100 across 477 games and posted a .9257 as recently as 2017-18; this is the fourth straight season below .9050 and the worst of them.

Lukas Dostal went 14-23-3 with a .9015 and 1 shutout in 44 games at 24, in his first real season of NHL work.

James Reimer was signed in the summer after a .9037 with 2 shutouts in 25 games for Detroit. He is 36, he has 501 games and a career .9103, and he is the third goaltender on a club that already had two.

What the Scout Says

A goaltender who was among the best in the world and has not been for five years, and a 24-year-old taking the job from him.

John Gibson is 6-3 and 209 and plays deep, square and technically exact, and he has all of the equipment he had when he posted a .9257 in 2017-18. The .8876 is the fourth straight season below .9050, and the rebound control is where it shows — the second chance comes back into the slot rather than to the corner. He tracks pucks through traffic as well as he ever did. He is 31, he has played 477 games for one club, and almost every one of them has been in front of a defence like this one.

Lukas Dostal is 6-2 and 190 and plays aggressively at the top of the crease, which is the compensation a goaltender that size makes. The lateral recovery is quick and the puck-handling is genuinely good. A .9015 in 44 games at 24, behind the 24th-ranked chance suppression in hockey, is a better season than it reads.

James Reimer is 36 with 501 games and a career .9103 and is a professional third goaltender.

Three goaltenders and one crease, on a club whose real problem is 6:08 a game shorthanded.

Who this names 8 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

32nd in the league at 8.228 expected goals against per 60, the worst penalty kill in hockey — over 6:08 a game, which is the most shorthanded time any club took. Nothing else on this page matters as much.

The two halves compound. A bad kill taking a normal amount of work is a problem; the worst kill in the league taking more of it than anybody is a season. Florida was second at 5:56 and Vegas took 4:31.

The fouling is spread rather than concentrated. Radko Gudas took 128 penalty minutes in 66 games, Ross Johnston 117 in 68, Ryan Strome 86 in 79, Mason McTavish 86 in 64 and Frank Vatrano 85 in 82. Five men above eighty-five on a club with almost no enforcer role to speak of.

The killers themselves are not the problem. Vatrano scored 3 shorthanded goals, Brett Leason 2, Mason McTavish 1 and Isac Lundeström 1 — five shorthanded goals is a real number for a unit ranked last. Gudas and Fowler take the defensive pair and Lundeström takes the draw that begins the shift.

A club that fixes nothing else and simply takes forty fewer minor penalties gains more than any signing it could make.

What the Scout Says

Good killers, far too many minutes, and the fouling that creates them.

Isac Lundeström wins the draw that begins the shift and scored a shorthanded goal, and he is the man sent out first. Frank Vatrano scored 3 shorthanded goals — a first-line winger doing it — and Brett Leason scored 2 at 6-5.

Radko Gudas blocks shots and closes gaps early and Cam Fowler is the other half of the pair. Brian Dumoulin was added for exactly this — he blocks shots, does not retaliate, and took 20 penalty minutes in 80 games.

The unit is last in the league and the reason is upstream of it. Gudas took 128 penalty minutes, Ross Johnston 117, Ryan Strome 86, Mason McTavish 86 and Frank Vatrano 85, and in Gudas's case the fouling is the deterrent working as intended while in the other four it is the stick foul after losing a step.

6:08 a game is the most shorthanded time in hockey and the kill behind it is 32nd. No club in this edition has a larger single number to fix.

The roster

Evidence 0 Full 20 Light 3 No record

No measured season behind three of them: Lukas Dostal, John Gibson and James Reimer. Their pages carry an older stat line and a judgment, and nothing from 2023-24.

Leo Carlsson

C · Anaheim Ducks

Nineteen years old, even on the chances, and his ice lost seven goals.

Lukas Dostal

G · Anaheim Ducks

A .9015 in forty-four games at twenty-four, behind the twenty-fourth-best defence in hockey.

Brian Dumoulin

D · Anaheim Ducks

Fifty-four per cent of the chances in Seattle — the best number any man on this roster produced last season, and he was somewhere else.

Robby Fabbri

C · Anaheim Ducks

Eighteen goals on ninety-seven shots — the highest conversion rate on this roster, from a man who has torn both knees.

Cam Fowler

D · Anaheim Ducks

Fourteen years and 974 games in one uniform, 24:25 a night at 32, and a minus-36.

John Gibson

G · Anaheim Ducks

An .8876 in forty-six games, from a goaltender who posted a .9257 six years ago.

Radko Gudas

D · Anaheim Ducks

Nine hundred and seventy-one penalty minutes in 748 games, and the only defenceman on this club who finished above water.

Jansen Harkins

C · Anaheim Ducks

No goals on thirty-seven shots, in a forty-five-game season.

Ross Johnston

LW · Anaheim Ducks

Four hundred penalty minutes in 202 games, eight minutes a night, and the worst chance share on the roster.

Alex Killorn

LW · Anaheim Ducks

Two Stanley Cups, five hundred and two points, and thirty-five years old on a club that will not win fifty games.

Jackson LaCombe

D · Anaheim Ducks

Nineteen minutes a night in a first full season, and a minus-24 to show for it.

Brett Leason

RW · Anaheim Ducks

Six foot five, eleven goals, two of them shorthanded — and fourteen penalty minutes all year.

Isac Lundeström

C · Anaheim Ducks

Two penalty minutes in forty-six games, and his ice came out 14-17 on a team that lost fifty.

Brock McGinn

LW · Anaheim Ducks

Five hundred and eight games of honest fourth-line work, and twenty-four of them last season.

Mason McTavish

C · Anaheim Ducks

Nineteen goals and eighty-six penalty minutes at twenty-one — the hardest young forward on this roster to play against.

Pavel Mintyukov

D · Anaheim Ducks

Twenty-four assists from the blue line at twenty, on ice for fifty goals against.

James Reimer

G · Anaheim Ducks

Five hundred and one games, a career .9103, and a third goaltender's job at thirty-six.

Ryan Strome

C · Anaheim Ducks

Fifth overall in 2011, seven hundred and eighty-two games, and a second-line centre wherever he goes.

Troy Terry

RW · Anaheim Ducks

Thirty-seven goals two seasons ago, twenty-three the next, twenty last year.

Urho Vaakanainen

D · Anaheim Ducks

One goal in 136 NHL games, and thirteen conceded above expectation.

Frank Vatrano

RW · Anaheim Ducks

Undrafted, thirty years old, and thirty-seven goals — eighteen per cent of everything this club scored.

Trevor Zegras

C · Anaheim Ducks

Sixty-five points at twenty-one, then thirty-one games.

Olen Zellweger

D · Anaheim Ducks

Five foot ten, and nineteen minutes a night in his first twenty-six NHL games.

How they were used

2023-24 · 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.