The Ducks have acquired defenseman Brian Dumoulin from the Kraken in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick, per a team announcement.
This move cuts short Dumoulin’s time in Seattle, after inking a two-year, $6.3MM contract with the club last summer. It was Dumoulin’s first time entering the market as an unrestricted free agent, bringing an end to Dumoulin’s 10-year career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He established himself as a stout defensive-defenseman with the Penguins, working his way into top-line minutes during the team’s run to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. The run locked him in as Kris Letang’s defensive partner, a role he held on to through the 2022-23 season.
Dumoulin has never been known for his scoring, with 25 points in 2022-23 marking his career-high. He didn’t bring that scoring to the West coast, posting a much quainter 16 points in 80 games. But he did bring his patented defense, earning his keep among a crowded Kraken blue-line thanks to his ability to shut down play in the neutral zone.
Dumoulin’s move away from Seattle will open space for top prospect Ryker Evans to pursue a full-time role with the NHL club. Evans, a second-round pick in 2021, played in the first 36 games of his NHL career this year, netting one goal, nine points, 20 penalty minutes, and a -5. He found much more production in back-and-forth trips to the minors, scoring 15 points in 25 games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds and adding 10 points in 18 Calder Cup postseason games. Evans headlines a list of strong defense prospects in Seattle, including Ville Ottavainen, Lukas Dragicevic, and Caden Price.
Meanwhile, Dumoulin will move to the rebranded Anaheim Ducks, where he’ll bring veteran presence and Stanley Cup precedent to a very young group. There seems to be no telling how Anaheim will organize their blue-line headed into the new year – with top prospects Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Tristan Luneau, and Jackson LaCombe each vying for routine ice time. That’ll be hard to dish out for a team that also needs to find minutes for veterans Cam Fowler, Radko Gudas, Urho Vaakanainen, and now Dumoulin.
Another lefty?
This doesn’t make sense from Anaheim’s perspective. Why block the kids? And why give up a forth round pick? Brian Dumoulin at $3.15M for one year seems about right, maybe even a bit of an overpay. Seems like Future Considerations should have been the only thing coming back to Seattle.
This is the same play Anaheim made last year with Ilya Lybushkin. We ended up trading Ilya at the deadline for a 3rd rounder. I’d expect the same inevitable result this year. Anaheim will improve their 2025 draft capital and deal Dumoulin at the 2025 deadline. Solid move but I look forward to the move Anaheim makes in the near future establishing them as playoff contenders!
They need to take on salary to hit the cap floor, but agree they could’ve taken on a bad contract for a pick or raw prospect.
Still not sold on Evans as some folks on here already know. Nice move to open cap space and land a pick though. I also am known to hold the unpopular opinion of liking Dumolin just fine. He was great in scrimmages at camp, but it didn’t really translate to the actual season. At least he didn’t get caved on his defensive responsibilities day after day though. Curious to see if any of the other prospects will get a good look. Camp should be fun this year.
Honest question, what are your concerns on Evans? He seems like a kid with a lot of upside that will be able to move the puck and be a solid defender as he matures.
Yeah, I mean, I hope for that, I really do. There isn’t really a list of “this, that, and that” that I have. More of just what i see overall when I’m watching him, which is definitely connected to the expectations around him. Sounds to me like lots of folks have this idea that he’s gonna be some Hughes-esque player “when he matures.” I’m not seeing that when I watch him play, though I certainly expect his game to improve the more he plays. Sometimes when I’m watching him though I could just as easily see it never really come together. I don’t really like rolling out an opinion like that, but that’s what I really see when I watch him right now. I think he’ll be fine when he gets older but I’m just not seeing the game-controlling superstar type guy that i kinda feel like people are telling me is there. It just feels weird, like the messaging surrounding Vegas’ trade deadlines of the past couple years. The PR says one thing, my gut says another. In trying to be a good sport, I’d say, specifically, his defensive positioning seems not as reliable as I’d like, and he also holds the puck longer than I’d like fairly often. All this I submit in the hopes that I eventually have to say “man, I was way off on him.” Just trying to play along. And reading back over it, that seems like a lot of words with not a lot of specifics, but it really is about the sort of gestalt of his game. The positioning, the puck finding abilities, how he moves the game. It all seems a little erratic to me. But hey I’m just a dude who loves to watch hockey and is quite good at being a wet blanket. Eek!
Has Dumoulin’s game fallen off that much to only get a 4th for him? Liked him when he was with the Pens.
I feel like I don’t have a lot of street cred since I trash on Evans, but Dumo seemed solid. The people who complained about him thought his offensive game was flat, which he never really did do much in the season offensively so I can see that, especially as he was really creative in the practices and such. He never seemed like a liability at all though. Solid defensive game. I think he’s still got it. I think Verbeek got a good deal since the Kraken are probably trying to free up some cap and maybe space too. Francis probably felt it was worth the lower pick to move him earlier than at the deadline.
Dumo is a solid player. On another team I’d say a good pick up. Not sure the Ducks need him….
Ducks have been so silent in FA thus far, perhaps there is another corresponding move coming?
Ducks have several LH defensemen and only two RH defensemen. Maybe a trade is in the works. Hoping they move Fowler lol. I know no one would want him though.