For the seventh consecutive season, the Ducks will be selecting in the top 10 of the NHL draft.
Or will they? While there are plenty of players who could help the Ducks down the line in this year’s draft, unfolding Friday and Saturday at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, general manager Pat Verbeek has pivoted from playing prospects and selling at the trade deadline to adding win-now pieces and bridge players. That could include dealing away a lottery pick for a more established NHLer.
“Well, yes, I’m looking at that as well, certainly. I think there’s a lot of teams looking at that,” Verbeek said. “That kind of stuff, certainly, you can go after a player that’s probably in his prime right now and be able to add to that group, so there’s certainly some of that stuff that we’re exploring.”
What they need
The Ducks have 10 total selections in the draft, including No. 10 overall as well as two picks in each of the second, fourth and fifth rounds. The emergence of Lukáš Dostál as well as the hopes they have for Damian Clara and Tomas Suchanek, both of whom had developmental setbacks last year, should deprioritize goaltending. The Ducks have also made strides over the past two seasons on the blue line, where they had been dressing teenagers and waiver pickups, but now have a deeper, better balanced defense corps.
They have selected a forward with 10 of their past 13 first-round selections. Their power play and overall attack have continued to sputter just the same, scoring the fewest goals per game of any franchise during their seven-season playoff drought. Their trend toward offensive drivers may very well continue, especially given that the Ducks will need to replace at least four 30-something forwards around the time that this year’s picks will be maturing into pros.
Recent draft hits
Jackson LaCombe: Once overshadowed by the Ducks’ three Canadian junior defensemen of the year, LaCombe (39th overall in 2019) leapfrogged Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger and Tristan Luneau on the depth chart last year, emerging as the Ducks’ top defenseman.
Lukáš Dostál: A third-rounder in 2018, Dostál was the sixth goalie taken but has firmly outplayed all five netminders selected ahead of him. He leads his entire class in career games played (121) by a double-digit margin and enjoyed a breakout season that solidified him as a legit No. 1 option last season.
Mason McTavish: Taken third overall in 2021, McTavish’s 2024-25 was a tale of two seasons as he stumbled out of the starting blocks but kicked strongly down the stretch. He had 36 of his career-high 52 points after the calendar turned, including 25 points in 28 games after the 4 Nations Face-Off break. With the departure of Trevor Zegras in an underwhelming trade, that’s the most tangible production from a projected Ducks cornerstone to date.
Recent draft misses
Jacob Perreault and Brayden Tracey: Perreault’s selection in 2020 (27th overall) and Tracey’s in 2019 (No. 29) both produced the same result, one NHL game played. Perreault bounced between minor-league levels last season while Tracey split the campaign between Finland and Slovakia.
Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale: Inseparable pals with the Ducks, their friendship will be rekindled in Philadelphia, after Zegras was traded on Monday to the Flyers, the same team to which Drysdale was dealt in January 2024. Zegras was the ninth overall pick in 2019 and Drysdale went sixth in 2020, but neither player made it through his bridge contract with the Ducks due to injuries and reevaluations by Verbeek.
Possible first-round choices
Roger McQueen: Though Verbeek just jettisoned the finesse-oriented, undersized Zegras for pennies on the dollar in part because of the Ducks’ depth down the middle, there’s almost always room for a 6-foot-5, 200-pound pivot with guile in his game. A spinal injury cost him most of last season. Still, his deception of defenders and hands in tight must have appealed to Verbeek, whom The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler reported invited McQueen to dinner with the Ducks at the scouting combine.
Brady Martin: The Ducks would have picked eighth if not for the lottery results pushing them to 10th, and that may be just a bit beyond reach for Martin, a powerful right-handed-shooting center who may well be a wing in the NHL. His powerful shot, improved skating and skill let him jump from 28 points in his first junior season to 72 in his draft year. But his tenacity, physicality, relentlessness and leadership qualities would all no doubt entice Verbeek if he were to remain available.
A defenseman: There are also three compelling prospects on the back end projected to go around 10th overall. Kashawn Aitcheson is a left defenseman with the sort of prickly profile that a GM once known as “The Little Ball of Hate” can appreciate, much like 2024 first-rounder Stian Solberg. The alluring blend of size and production from Jackson Smith could also be an option. So could right defenseman Radim Mrtka, another big rearguard, who made the successful transition from Czechia to the Canadian junior system.