The Anaheim Ducks have some exciting young players working their way into NHL stardom. Can the Ducks take the next step in the 22/23 season?
2021-2022 Season Performance
Regular Season
The Ducks got off to an shaky start to the 21/22 season, but an eight game winning streak shot them into contention in the Pacific. They hung on until the middle of the season before slowly fading through the second half. Team defense was an issue, as they allowed xGA/60 at a high rate relative to the rest of the league which resulted in a poor xGF%. Neither finishing not goaltending were good enough to make up ground, while their special teams were above average. The young guns led the way offensively, with Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry sitting atop the team leaderboard in a number of offensive categories.
Looking Ahead to 2022-2023
Offseason Moves
The Ducks took full advantage of their cap situation this summer. They landed a couple of impactful forwards on day one of unrestricted free agency, signing both Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano. Both are projected to have top line level impacts, although Vatrano’s is with projected middle six minutes. With a combined cap hit of $8.65M, the Ducks should get full value from the duo.
The Ducks had more in store with their ample cap space, and signed John Klingberg to a one year deal with a $7M cap hit. Klingberg was undoubtedly looking for a longer deal and this deal looks like a win for both parties after one didn’t materialize. Anaheim added an asset they can likely flip for futures at the deadline, while Klingberg has a chance to test the market again next summer following a potential deadline move to a contender. The Ducks doubled down with this strategy, acquiring Dmitry Kulikov from the Wild for future considerations in what appear to be a cap dump by Minnesota.
According to CapFriendly, the Ducks have more than $16M in remaining cap space, so they still have potential to weaponize it further this season.
22/23 Roster
A look at the Ducks roster profile suggests that they aren’t quite ready to make the jump to contender status. Their goaltending tandem is decent and they’ve complemented their developing young players with some capable veterans. Yet they don’t have much in the way of elite talent, which holds back their overall impact ratings.
Pacific Division Landscape
It will be tough sledding for the Ducks to make the playoffs this season. The Pacific has a few teams that look like legitimate playoff teams, which the Ducks trail in the projections by a fairly wide margin. It will take breakout seasons from a number of young players if they hope to compete for a playoff berth.
Long Term Outlook
While the 22/23 projection suggests the Ducks aren’t ready to take the next step in their rebuild this season, the long term outlook is brighter. They have only a few players under contract for more than the next 3 seasons and there are some exciting young players already performing at the NHL level. With a strong prospect pool ready to supply the big club with more developing talent, the Ducks’ rebuild looks well positioned to take flight over the next few seasons.
Want to check out more projections for the 22/23 season? Sign up for an annual membership to get access to all 22/23 team and player projection plots and peruse the full set of free agent player cards. Plots will be updated through the offseason as the 22/23 rosters take shape and updated to track progress through the season.
Historical player data from Natural Stat Trick. Contract data from CapFriendly.
