IRVINE –– Last season was one to celebrate for the Ducks as they arrived in the playoffs ahead of schedule and even won a round, all while possessing an ocean of salary cap space and, ostensibly, options galore for the offseason.
They followed that up with a draft that heavily emphasized upside and tacked on two first-round picks in addition to clearing even more cap space.
So, how did the summer go?
“Other than having some unplanned, you know, things, I think it went great,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said as training camp opened on Thursday. “We weren’t going to be real aggressive in the free-agency market. We got the players that we targeted and wanted, and we’re excited about that.”
The main goal of the offseason both at its outset and over its course was re-signing restricted free agents Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov. All of that happened, but at a much higher cost than Verbeek or almost everyone else anticipated.
Carlsson signed a seismic pact with Philadelphia worth $18 million a year that the Ducks matched. Gauthier came in at the 11th hour before the new collective bargaining agreement took effect at $13.5 million per annum. Mintyukov ran them over $7 million per season.
“It was a contract year for all of those guys, and they all got what they deserved, and they need to take that next step this year, too,” said second-year winger Beckett Sennecke, who will be eligible for an extension July 1, 2027.
Sennecke said he, Carlsson, Gauthier and top defenseman Jackson LaCombe were all looking forward to shouldering even more responsibility on a roster that saw a purge of salary and, in turn, experience this offseason. Gauthier echoed that sentiment.
“With all the losses we had with those veteran presences, we all, as a young group of guys, expect to take the next step in the leadership aspect of things, take control of the locker room and show it on the ice as well,” Gauthier said. “We’re all excited for the challenge and we just can’t wait to get the season going.”
Gauthier said he wanted to make his 41-goal campaign last year a sort of new baseline as well as round out parts of his game well beyond shooting.
“I’m trying to slow the game down and play it at my pace. (Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov) made a funny comment the other day that ‘the league is getting dumber,’ and I’m just trying to get a little bit smarter,” Gauthier said. “I’m just trying to slow the game down and keep it at my pace. When you can dictate the plays and slow everyone else down, you know the next move before everyone else does.”
His deal, like Carlsson’s, is heavily front-loaded with bonus money, making it key to have completed talks before Tuesday’s 9 p.m. PT deadline.
“I was happy we were able to get it done before that new CBA [kicked in],” said Gauthier, who added that the first dinner was still “definitely on Leo.”
Verbeek said he was pleased, all in all, to have Gauthier on a relatively long-term deal at six years, and a cap number that mitigated at least some of the damage from Carlsson and Mintyukov’s numbers swelling unexpectedly.
Although the Ducks had to get younger and cheaper around their suddenly much pricier nucleus – Carlsson, Gauthier, Mintyukov and Jackson LaCombe will earn $47.7 million combined against the cap next year and much more actual cash coming off their entry-level contracts – their abundance of prospects could soften that blow.
Verbeek said the Ducks learned firsthand the new realities of the NHL marketplace as the salary cap increased, stars earned considerably more and players took more control of their destinies. While he said he didn’t think the offseason’s events were entirely avoidable, he did say he learned from them.
“Certainly, we’re gonna attack some of our players coming off their ELCs and be more aggressive in that, start communicating and having more talks sooner. That’s no different than the approach I took last year,” he said. “Unfortunately, things didn’t kind of work out the way we had planned, but we got some players signed. Overall, we’ve made good adjustments and we’re in a good spot right now with our hockey team.”