NHL: Anaheim Ducks – 2025/2026 Review
Anaheim finally snapped a seven-year playoff drought, finishing on 92 points and taking third place in the Pacific. They beat Edmonton in six games in the first round before falling to Vegas in round two. It was a season with real significance: the Ducks’ three top scorers, Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Beckett Sennecke, were all 22 or under, something only seven teams in NHL history have managed while making the playoffs.
Key numbers
2025-2026 record: 43-33-6 (273 goals for, 288 against)
2025-2026 NHL ranking: 3rd in the Pacific Division
2025-2026 top scorer: Cutter Gauthier (41)
2025-2026 top playmaker: Jackson Lacombe (48)
2025-2026 leading points man: Cutter Gauthier (69)
Average age of roster (2026-2027): 27.8 years
Available cap space (2026-2027): 9.07 M$
Recent moves (offseason)
Arrivals:
- AJ Greer (F)
- Nick Jensen (D)
- Jeff Malott (F)
Departures:
- Olen Zellweger (D)
- Mason McTavish (F)
- Radko Gudas (D)
- Ross Johnston (F)
- Jeffrey Viel (D)
- Jacob Trouba (D)
Franchise outlook
Anaheim Ducks – Future contracts and draft picks
Anaheim head into the season with a young, proven scoring core and a defence that has been torn up since last year’s breakthrough. Leo Carlsson, after receiving and matching an offer sheet from Philadelphia, is locked in for five years at $18 million per season, cementing his place as a central part of the project alongside Cutter Gauthier, the team’s leading scorer and a candidate for a major extension this summer.
The real upheaval came on the blue line. John Carlson, Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas, who soaked up a huge chunk of the defensive workload last season, are all gone, leaving Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov as the main experienced options. Some observers, including The Athletic, have ranked the Ducks’ offseason among the weakest in the league and wonder whether the growth up front can possibly make up for the hole on defence.
The draft capital is still healthy, with a first-round pick every year through 2029, giving Anaheim some insurance if the defensive transition proves rougher than expected. The big question this summer is not whether the Ducks have talent, but whether they can stay competitive with a blue line that is younger and far less battle-tested than the one that got them back to the playoffs.
41 goals up front, and nobody left to defend
Cutter Gauthier erupted for 41 goals, the highest total the club has seen in 12 years. Leo Carlsson confirmed himself as a top-line centre. Beckett Sennecke turned in one of the best rookie seasons in the league. On talent alone, there are few teams with a brighter attacking future.
The problem is that this core now has to carry more of the defensive load too, because the right side behind it has all but disappeared. Jackson LaCombe remains the anchor, a rapidly rising defender who logged more than 24 minutes a night, but he will need to do it with far less experience around him, including Tristan Luneau, who is set to make the jump to a full-time role from the American League.
In goal, Lukas Dostal posted a career year, but his numbers dipped a touch in the playoffs, a sign that the pressure could keep building without better protection in front of him. So the question for 2026-27 is simple: can the young forwards keep driving the offence hard enough to cover for a defence that looks weaker, or are the Ducks due for a step back after tasting success for the first time in seven years?
Player to watch: Jackson Lacombe (D)
LaCombe starts the season as the undisputed No. 1 on a defence that looks completely different. After leading the team in ice time last season, at more than 24 minutes per game, and signing an eight-year extension worth $9 million a year, he now has to shoulder an even bigger load with Carlson, Trouba and Gudas all gone.
Pat Verbeek has tried to talk it down, pointing out that LaCombe, Mintyukov and Helleson all picked up playoff experience last year and are no longer 20-year-old kids, but young veterans in their mid-20s. That stands in sharp contrast to the outside view, where plenty of observers doubt a group this young can repeat last season’s defensive feat.
The real test for LaCombe is to keep creating offence from the blue line while tightening up his own end, exactly the balance Anaheim need as a team if they want to avoid sliding backward after a historic breakthrough.
2026-2027 goal
Projected Anaheim Ducks lines for 2026-2027
Anaheim’s goal is easy to say and much harder to pull off: prove last year’s breakthrough was no one-off. The attacking core should keep moving forward, but the real issue is defence, ripped apart after the loss of three regular pillars.
In practical terms, that means pushing for another top-three finish in the Pacific, a division that still looks open, while hoping the young defence around LaCombe and Mintyukov can absorb the loss of experience without taking too big a step backward.
Another playoff berth, or even a second-round run, would confirm that the forward group is strong enough to cover any gaps on the back end. A drop back out of the postseason would force the organisation to ask whether sacrificing defensive experience to keep financial flexibility around Carlsson and Gauthier was really worth it.
My prediction
Right on the playoff bubble for Anaheim. Hard to pin them down while there’s still no word on Gauthier. I think he’ll re-sign in Anaheim. The question is the money, the term, and above all how the club fits it under their current cap. I do think it will affect the team a bit, but in a pretty weak division they should still win enough games. This is still a young group with plenty of talent to develop.
Photo credit: wallpapersafari.com | thomasw64
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