Prospect Pool Overview: Anaheim Ducks

mctavish mason — Orlando Ramírez-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL offseason is in full swing, giving us the perfect opportunity to take a look at each team’s prospect pools. Any player who no longer has rookie eligibility in the NHL is considered a graduate and is no longer considered a prospect for the purposes of these exercises.

In this series, Tony Ferrari will delve into the strengths and weaknesses of each team, a quick overview of their latest draft class, where each team’s positional depth chart stands, and who could be next in line for a spot. on the NHL roster.

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The Anaheim Ducks are in a unique position. They are a team with young talent on their roster, like center Trevor Zegras and blueliner Jamie Drysdale. The Ducks have some really intriguing young prospects coming very soon in center Mason McTavish, as well as defenders Olen Zellweger and this year’s 10th overall pick Pavel Mintyukov. Anaheim’s prospect pool looks solid from top to bottom and has quietly become one of the most intriguing groups in the league.

At the same time, they’re a crafty “Connor Bedard” team that may very well find themselves with pretty good lottery odds late in the season. They have notable prospects at almost every position, even when talents under 22 on the NHL team are excluded. Rumors of John Gibson’s departure have festered in recent years, but they have emerging talent Lukas Dostal in the net as their possible goalkeeper of the future.

The old guard, led by former captain Ryan Getzlaf, is completely gone. The future is now in Anaheim. Are Zegras, Drysdale and McTavish the team to carry that group into the Ducks’ next era of hockey or will they look to the top of the 2023 draft to provide that player?

2022 NHL Draft Class

Round 1 (10 overall) – Pavel Mintyukov, D, Saginaw Spirit [OHL]
Round 1 (22nd overall) – Nathan Gaucher, C, Quebec Remparts [QMJHL]
Round 2 (42nd overall) – Noah Warren, D, Gatineau Olympiques [QMJHL]
Round 2 (53rd overall) – Tristan Luneau, D, Gatineau Olympiques [QMJHL]
Round 4 (107th overall): Ben King, C, Red Deer Rebels [WHL]
Round 5 (139th overall): Connor Hvidston, L, Swift Current Broncos [WHL]
Round 5 (154th overall) – Michael Callow, R, St. Sebastien’s School (Massachusetts HS)
Round 6 (178 total) – Vyacheslav Buteyets, G, Chelyabinsk Chelmet (BVS)

Anaheim had a very heavy CHL draft this year with its first six picks coming from the Canadian junior circuit, including three QMJHL players. Their only pick from abroad was their sixth-round goalkeeping prospect Vyacheslav Buteyets, who posted a solid .918 save percentage at the Russian second tier last year despite struggling statistically at the junior level on a team fewer than stellar.

Mintyukov is a puck-moving offensive defender who has shown flashes of absolutely stunning talent. His stock rose throughout the year and he could be one of the most skilled blueliners in the class. His second pick in the first round was big, powerful, fast center Nathan Gaucher. All of his tools lead you to believe there may be more offensive upside than he’s shown thus far, but he still has room to refine things outside of his power play.

Gatineau’s teammates Warren and Luneau were drafted within a few points of each other in the second round by the Ducks. Right-shot blueliners bring some interesting elements to the Ducks’ pool of prospects. Warren is a retroactive defender who leads with his body and imposes his will physically, using his entire 6-foot-5 frame to crush opponents across the boards. Luneau is a bit more adept at moving pucks from his own side. Using his skill with the puck and his agility to beat the forecheckers and make a great first pass out of the zone. Luneau’s offensive ceiling remains a question, but he is solid on the run and brings a lot of tools to complete his game.

Strengths

The biggest strength of the Ducks’ system is that they have a little bit of everything everywhere. They have great centers in McTavish and Gaucher. They have scoring wingers like Jacob Perrrault and Sasha Pastukhov. His defensive prospects range from puck-moving experts to defensive stalwarts. They have two goaltenders who seem to have NHL potential in Dostal and Calle Clang.

weaknesses

Anaheim has done a good job rounding out their pool of prospects at every position. The group’s only criticism may well be that they don’t own a true stud other than McTavish. To be fair, they have Zegras and Drysdale in the NHL at 21 and 20, respectively. Feels like grasping at straws to find a legitimate weakness here. Perhaps you could argue that a breaking winger is a must, but that will come.

Next man up: C Mason McTavish

After having a cup of coffee at the NHL level last season, McTavish is poised to take a spot on the Ducks’ roster this year. He may end up starting at full-back, but there is certainly room for him to play at center with a lack of high-profile players at the position beyond Zegras and newly signed Ryan Strome. If the Ducks want to play McTavish in the middle, could he center the back line with Max Comtois, Jakob Silfverberg or Frank Vatrano?

McTavish already has an NHL-level shot with the ability to rip the cracker from anywhere in the offensive zone and a power play that he could use to feast on opponents’ defensive second and third pairs. The young Canadian is a highly underrated playmaker who can draw in defenders and make a pass with an opponent on top of him. His two-way play is also admirable for a player his age. The steps McTavish took as a playmaker upon his return to the OHL this year seemed to be the biggest of all the ones he took this year.

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