Ducks flush with cap dollars heading into free agency

The Ducks are poised to enter Tuesday’s opening of free agency with the second most available cap dollars in the NHL, as well as plenty of impetus to put them to use.

They haven’t made the playoffs in seven years and the crescendo of construction equipment leading up to the opening of O.C. Vibe next to the Honda Center is nearly at its peak. They’ve gone all-in on the coaching staff with the hire of Joel Queeneville (and soon Jay Woodcroft) while giving General Manager Pat Verbeek a mandate to push hard for the postseason.

Much of Verbeek’s tenure has been defined by selling off, at the trade deadline unilaterally and even in this very offseason. Former cornerstone Trevor Zegras was traded to Philadelphia for fourth-line center Ryan Poehling, picks and even more cap dollars. Career Duck John Gibson was dealt to Detroit for another goalie, Petr Mrázek, and picks, a day before the Ducks re-signed Ville Husso as their No. 3 netminder with the cash saved in the Gibson swap. Even when the Ducks made an addition via trade, that of Jacob Trouba, a departure soon followed, that of Cam Fowler.

The Ducks did make a straight addition with the acquisition of Chris Kreider, a former 52-goal scorer who scored just 22 last year, and from the sound of things, they plan to make more via free agency and/or trades. Given that the only team with more cap space is San Jose and they likely won’t spend near the ceiling, the Ducks could dish more dollars than any other team potentially.

“I’ve been looking for more improved scoring. That’s the one area, I’d like to add goals to our lineup,” Verbeek said on Friday’s NHL draft broadcast. “So, certainly, we’ll look at trying to do that. Getting Poehling has helped our bottom six and shored that up. We’re looking, probably, at defense as well.”

Goaltending

One area where the Ducks have been bustling but will soon cease activity altogether is in net. Once they dole out their unrestricted free agent dollars, a major focus will be re-signing restricted free agent Lukáš Dostaál. He became their unequivocal No. 1 goalie after the Gibson trade, if not before with his stellar play last season.

Mrázek gives the Ducks an option to play “at least 30” games behind Dostál, Verbeek said, with Husso waiting in the wings in the event of an injury to either roster goalie. Both Dostál and Mrázek are Czech and have a rapport already.

“The cool thing is that Lukáš and Peter were teammates at the World Championships, they’re very familiar with one another, they’re good friends,” Verbeek said via teleconference on Saturday. “Peter’s very competitive. Having that relationship, they’re going to push each other real hard and they’re going to be a good tandem.”

Defense

The Ducks have a deep bunch of young defensemen behind two veterans on the right side, captain Radko Gudas and Trouba, that just got even deeper since their nine Day 2 selections at the draft included four more rearguards. Restricted free agent Drew Helleson (right defense) needs a new contract and the Ducks’ surplus of young defenders means that a D-for-forward swap could materialize. Overall, all six roster defenseman after the trade of Brian Dumoulin in March are still under either contract or team control for next season, and Verbeek has made it clear that additions on defense are a peripheral priority outside of adding scoring punch.

Dumoulin, whom Verbeek considered keeping at the deadline, will likely be available once again as a free agent, with Florida Panthers blue-liner and former No. 1 overall pick Aaron Ekblad headlining the FA class.

Bowen Byram, who ironically was developed largely by former Ducks coach Greg Cronin in Colorado, could be a trade piece in play. Yet the Ducks have three rostered left defensemen, plus their four picks and a first-rounder last year, Stian Solberg, and would likely only make a significant acquisition under ideal circumstances.

Forward

The Ducks lacked quality power-play components and seemed to be overextending much of their forward group in terms of responsibility, even last season after the arrival of Cutter Gauthier, who finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting. The addition of Kreider may have been offset by the subtraction of Zegras (ironically, the two are close friends) and now Verbeek can get down to further business with nearly $40 million in cap space.

Some of that is earmarked for Mason McTavish, another core piece and pending restricted free agent, but most of it can go toward upgrades from the open market or through trades. Forward is also where this 2025 class shines, with Toronto’s Mitch Marner, Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers and Vancouver’s Brock Boeser at the top of a list of sparkling possibilities.

While Marner seemed increasingly destined for Vegas, a 28-year-old 100-point scorer with Selke quality defense on the wing is a rare commodity on the open market and will make teams pull out all the stops. Vegas appeared to be the favorite to land his services, but both Southern California clubs were positioned well to pursue him. Boeser’s on-again, off-again talks with the Canucks appear to be off at a critical juncture, with the Ducks valuing a right-handed shot who has a 40-goal season on his résumé. They will have to contend with, at a minimum, serious efforts from the Edmonton Oilers and Boeser’s hometown Minnesota Wild. Ehlers will also have his fair share of suitors, while veteran options like Brad Marchand and former Ducks Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry were still not sure to hit the open market as of Sunday.