Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. That’s not really the case for Anaheim this summer but here is a breakdown of their free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agent: D Jake Dotchin – This is going to seem like a stretch on the surface but they don’t have any restricted free agents from their end-of-season roster. Dotchin joined Anaheim early in the season following a surprising release in Tampa Bay for a material breach of contract that was believed to revolve around his conditioning. After a conditioning stint, he hung around for a couple of months in a limited role before clearing waivers in mid-January and being sent back to the minors. Dotchin hasn’t seen a ton of ice time so far for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in the postseason but considering he’s only owed a two-way qualifying offer of $840K, he could be worth re-signing to keep around as a potential fit for a depth spot in the lineup for the Ducks next season if the team feels some of their younger players need more minor league time.
Other RFAs: F Chase De Leo, F Justin Kloos, D Trevor Murphy, D Keaton Thompson
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: G Ryan Miller – While his second season in Anaheim didn’t go as well as his first, Miller still provided the Ducks with a reasonable showing between the pipes. His .912 SV% and 2.76 GAA were both slightly better than the league average which isn’t too shabby for a 38-year-old. It’s believed that Miller is only interested in playing for a California-based team which will limit his options in free agency. However, Anaheim does have some interest in keeping him around but considering his age, it will almost certainly be a one-year deal. A contract like that is eligible for performance bonuses and given their salary cap situation, a deal with bonuses (likely close to the $2MM he made this past season) could give GM Bob Murray a bit more wiggle room this offseason.
F Derek Grant – Grant was brought back in a midseason trade in an effort to shore up Anaheim’s bottom six forward group. While his production dipped relative to his 24-point campaign the year before, he was still slightly above average at the faceoff dot and played a bigger role than expected due to injuries. He was on a league minimum contract this past season and will likely be looking at that again next season. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Anaheim be the team to give it to him.
D Andy Welinski – Welinski isn’t someone that is going to jump off the table; he has just 33 career NHL regular season games under his belt. However, he didn’t look out of place in his 26 games with Anaheim this season and he has played quite well for their AHL affiliate in San Diego, including their current postseason run. We’ve seen teams be more aggressive with Group VI free agents in recent years and as a right-shot defender that’s on the cusp of cracking the NHL on a full-time basis, there will be a lot of interest in him on the open market.
Other UFAs: F Sam Carrick, F Adam Cracknell, G Chad Johnson, D Korbinian Holzer, F Kalle Kossila, D Jaycob Megna, F Kevin Roy, F Ben Street, D Andrej Sustr
Projected Cap Space: The Ducks have nearly $74MM tied up in 18 players for next season, per CapFriendly. Even with a projected bump in the Upper Limit, that doesn’t give them a ton of room to make any big additions. However, Ryan Kesler’s season-ending hip surgery will allow them to put him on LTIR which will effective buy them up to an extra $6.875MM in cap room for 2019-20. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that money spent on one-year contracts in the event that Kesler is able to return down the road. Patrick Eaves ($3.15MM) is another early LTIR candidate which would give them that much more room to work with. While injuries are never ideal, it will give Murray some freedom to spend this summer, something that didn’t appear to be the case just a few months ago.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.