It’s official, the Ducks will need a new captain.
They swapped the negotiating rights to defenseman Radko Gudas for those of now-former Florida Panthers forward A.J. Greer. Gudas had been the Ducks’ captain for the past two seasons, the first player to don the “C” since Ryan Getzlaf’s 2022 retirement.
Gudas, 36, now appears to be returning to Florida, where he reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2023, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights, before signing with the Ducks as a free agent the following offseason. Greer, 29, won the Stanley Cup with Florida in 2025 and then set career highs in goals (17), assists (15) and points (32) last season. He also racked up more than 100 penalty minutes in each of those two campaigns, including a dozen total fighting majors.
That could replace some of the snarl of Gudas, one of the most rugged and self-sacrificing defenders in the NHL. He was an unconventional choice as captain, but the Ducks’ results improved dramatically with his leadership, first under Greg Cronin and then Joel Quenneville. They leapt 21 points in the standings in his first year as captain and then 12 more in his second.
“Wearing the ‘C’ for the Ducks was one of the biggest (sources of) pride in my career,” Gudas said. “Being able to represent a club that’s doing this well and striving for greatness and having the opportunity to work with all these guys here and being a leader was one of the biggest honors of my career.”
Both Gudas and Greer have until July 1 to come to terms with their new teams or they’ll become unrestricted free agents. Gudas will be breaking bread with two-time Cup winner Bill Zito, while Greer will be negotiating with Ducks GM of the year finalist Pat Verbeek.
“Radko Gudas captained our club with heart and soul over the last two seasons while making a great impact in our community,” Verbeek said in a statement. “We offer our thanks and wish him great success going forward. We hope to sign A.J. to a contract and look forward to what he can bring to our club.”
The Ducks also extended qualifying offers to seven restricted free agents: center Leo Carlsson, forward Cutter Gauthier, defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, defenseman Tyson Hinds, goalie Calle Clang, winger Sasha Pastujov and goalie Vyacheslav Buteyets.
They opted not to proffer QOs to defensemen Jeremie Biakabutuka and Kyle Masters nor forwards Jan Mysak and Jaxsen Wiebe.