Ducks Who Need to Step Up Ahead of Big Test Against Wild – The Hockey Writers Anaheim Ducks Latest News, Analysis & More

Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss to the Vancouver Canucks was the fifth game of the 2024-25 campaign where the Anaheim Ducks scored just a single goal. It was the third time in the last four games they had been outshot by at least 15. Against superior teams, they just don’t have the puck enough to get anything going and fall back the all-too-familiar trend of hoping their goaltender limits the opposition to one or two goals amidst a barrage of shots and high-danger scoring chances. 

There are a number of reasons the Ducks cannot keep the puck and generate more shots. They pass up shooting opportunities to make an extra pass or hold onto it longer, they dump the puck into the offensive zone but struggle to retrieve it, they miss the net with their attempts, fumble possession, or miss entirely on passes; the list goes on. Outside of the rare circumstance where they find their game early and convert on a power-play chance or two, this offense right now is just not going to reliably score the three to four goals needed to win a game. It gets no easier tonight, when the Ducks face a red-hot Minnesota Wild team that has begun the season an impressive 9-2-2. Who on the Ducks needs to step up? Let’s look at a few names. 

Honorable Mention: Pavel Mintyukov

Let’s begin with an honorable mention who doesn’t make the list because he is still just 20 years of age and adjusting to the responsibilities of being a top four defenseman on a struggling team. Qualifier aside, Pavel Mintyukov has not begun the season the way that his play during his rookie season suggested he would. He has struggled to produce offense, though his two-goal game in the home-opening win against the Utah Hockey Club (Oct. 16) was the best output by a Ducks blueliner this season. Outside of that, there hasn’t been much. He has found ways to get pucks to the net — he has at least one shot in five of the last six games — but little to show for it. He is no doubt a full-time player for this team, but he has already ceded some responsibility to Olen Zellweger, and sometimes Jackson LaCombe, both of whom have handled the lion’s share of power-play quarterback duties as of late. 

The last five games have been particularly rough. He hasn’t registered a point and is minus-5. We expected growing pains for the young Russian, and it looks like we’re seeing it early, but there’s still plenty of games left for him to deliver an impressive sophomore season. Brighter days are ahead for the blueliner in 2024-25. 

Trevor Zegras

Trevor Zegras tops the list of skaters running out of explanations for his underwhelming start. A sluggish 2024-25 and injury-riddled 2023-24 make his 61-point sophomore season and 65-point third season seem like ages ago. He, like Mintyukov and the rest of the offense, got involved in the five-goal home opener, but has failed to produce since. He played his best game against the Pittsburgh Penguins (Oct. 31), where he impressed with an assist to Alex Killorn and a near-conversion on a late-game breakaway chance. Outside of that, he has an empty-net goal. That gives him three points in 12 games, just one more than he had through 12 games last season, when he wasn’t in game shape and was clearly compromised physically. What’s the explanation now?

Sure, he still dazzles with his hands, vision, and playmaking in moments that don’t result in goals, but the lack of production is perplexing. At 16:36 in average time-on-ice per game (TOI), he is playing less than he ever has, but he is skating with skilled players — Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier to name a couple — so that’s not the issue. He’s getting minutes on the power play, albeit on a second unit that features more meat-and-potatoes players like Frank Vatrano, Ryan Strome, and Alex Killorn. It can’t be that either.

The answer is anyone’s guess, but one has to wonder where it’ll leave Zegras if the lack of scoring continues. He is among the top two or three of the Ducks forwards in terms of pure playmaking ability, so I don’t think the Ducks should move him, but we see underperforming high-potential players get moved from time to time (Patrik Laine and Pierre-Luc Dubois are recent examples) when it isn’t working. My hope is that doesn’t happen, but it bears mentioning when he has missed 52 games and looked average in the last two seasons when he was healthy.

Frank Vatrano

Next is Vatrano, who entered the campaign on the heels of a career season in 2023-24 (37 goals, 23 assists.) It was a feel-good story that was unlikely to continue this season, given the insertion of a healthy Zegras and Gauthier into the top-six forward group. The math just doesn’t support Vatrano getting the same number of opportunities to produce, but we still expected him to factor into the offense as a productive middle-six forward. Instead, he has a single empty-net goal to his credit. He has three assists. 

Related: Ducks September Series: 2024-25 Expectations for Depth Forwards

He has put three-plus shots in goal in five of his last seven games. He has been his feisty, shoot-first self, and too has been placed at several different spots in the lineup. It’s just not delivering results. And he, once again, sits near the top of the team in penalty minutes. For a guy who paced the Ducks last season with not only his scoring but also his competitive edge and consistency, going the first 12 games without a non-empty net goal is a worst-case scenario for all involved. 

Cam Fowler

Cam Fowler never turning into one of the most elite defenders in the NHL will always be puzzling given he had all the tools to become one. At 6-foot-2, he is not undersized. He has elite mobility, can move the puck well, possesses solid offensive instincts, and can play effectively in all situations. Those days are all but behind him now, but he still has enough left in the tank to be a leader and impact defenseman on the Ducks’ rebuilding blue line. In a unit that includes many players under the age of 23, and a handful of other veterans that cannot do what he can, Fowler simply looks like one of the guys. He doesn’t stand out in any one particular area. He has been a plus player in four of the last five games but hasn’t produced a point since the Ducks’ loss to the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago. 

The Ducks are starving for a player or two, on each side of the puck, to take charge and fill production voids that are holding this team back. The young Ducks would benefit greatly from a veteran like him leading the way. At 32, he is past his prime but still has the stuff to play a larger role in creating offense and solving the Ducks’ many problems. 

Alex Killorn

For those who are given ample opportunity, much is expected. This holds true for our last player on the list – Alex Killorn. At 34, his best days too are behind him but he is getting a meaningful opportunity to contribute at even strength and special teams for the Ducks, to middling results. He scored his first non-empty net goal against the Penguins but, like the rest of the team, doesn’t have much going for him otherwise. 

A versatile and rugged plug-and-play player with championship pedigree is the ultimate complement to the young skill players the Ducks have, in both on- and off-ice value. We saw that value in various ways last season, when Killorn became one of the more consistent producers in the second half once he was healthy. The beginning of the 2024-25 season has not been a continuation of that. He needs to do more with the 16:59 in TOI that he’s getting, which ranks third among Ducks forwards.

Players Whose Breakout Seem (Somewhat) Close

We know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. But the Ducks are dragging their feet on their way to greater structure, consistent offense, and an overall identity. It has resulted in an unexpectedly boring and disappointing start to the 2024-25 season. If help doesn’t come from the players we just discussed, perhaps it’ll come from the next two, who have also been underwhelming but exhibit encouraging signs. 

Mason McTavish

McTavish’s only goal was a meaningless one in the final seconds of the Ducks’ recent loss to the Chicago Blackhawks (Nov. 3). It’s certainly not the start anyone was expecting from him given he is in a contract year and needs a healthy and productive season after a sophomore campaign slowed by injury, inconsistency, and lack of discipline. He still suffers from a lack of discipline (he leads the Ducks in penalty minutes) and can barely win a faceoff (47.6%-win percentage) but does have a handful of assists that suggest he is closer to breaking out than some of the other names on this list. But when will he score? Hopefully soon.

Cutter Gauthier

Gauthier is just 13 games into his NHL career, so he gets some grace. Not to mention, he leads the Ducks in shots on goal, shot attempts, and the NHL overall in shots without scoring a goal. He has hit the post a number of times and has demonstrated that he knows where to go on the ice to get opportunities. His first goal, and many more, don’t seem too far off and he’ll get more comfortable as the season progresses. 

The numbers suggest it’s a foregone conclusion that the Ducks will not keep pace with Kirill Kaprizov and the Wild tonight. After all, those numbers suggest they would need to score four to outpace the Wild’s 3.6 goals per game. The Ducks have scored four just once this season. But sports are the world’s best unscripted drama, which is why we watch these games. Tune in tonight for a 7 p.m. puck drop at Honda Center.