While it looked as if Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas would need surgery to address a lingering knee issue, he noted to NHL.com’s Michael Langr that he ultimately didn’t need it and that he was able to recover simply through rehab. The 35-year-old still managed to play in 81 games last season despite the injury, recording a dozen points, 178 blocked shots, and 261 hits in just under 20 minutes a night of playing time. Now entering the final season of his three-year, $12MM contract signed two years ago, Gudas added that there have yet to be any extension talks but that he understands there are other priorities for GM Pat Verbeek to be dealing with at this time.
Ducks Rumors
Poll: Who Will Be The Next RFA To Sign?
The summer is winding down across the NHL, but a rich group of remaining restricted-free agents are keeping multiple teams from closing their books just yet. There are still multiple top, young players awaiting contracts for the 2025-26 season – including top-line features like Luke Hughes, Marco Rossi, and Mason McTavish. Pending any holdouts, it seems hard to imagine any of the top names not finding a new deal before the start of the season. But who will get the assurance next?
Hughes seems like a confident bet. There’s no denying the warm relationship between his family and the New Jersey Devils organization, and both team and player have already expressed interest in locking up a long-term contract. But that desire has been the exact hang-up in contract negotiations, as the Devils sit with just over $6.1MM in available cap space, per PuckPedia. Hughes scored 44 points in 71 games last year, and 47 points in 82 games in the year prior. That scoring is the second-most from any U23 defender in the NHL over the last two seasons, just behind Jake Sanderson (95 points) and ahead of Brock Faber (76 points).
Both Sanderson and Faber have already found their contracts for the future – each signing eight-year deals with cap hits north of $8MM. That seems to set a clear market for what Hughes, but it’s a price tag that New Jersey is currently priced out of. Landing a new deal with Hughes will seemingly take a gentleman’s agreement, or a supplemental move like parting with the $1.15MM cap hit of Kurtis MacDermid.
New Jersey’s holdups could pave way for Anaheim Ducks center McTavish to land a deal first. McTavish is another undeniable talent, who worked his way to a lofty 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games last season – good for second on the Ducks in scoring. He seems well set up for another big step next season, on an improved Ducks lineup with a new head coach. But McTavish’s continued divide with a rich Ducks team – currently wielding $20.54MM in cap space – has many speculating about what the two sides could be disagreeing on. That dialogue has made McTavish a top option for any team considering a late-summer offer sheet, though Anaheim’s rich cap space would make it tough to successfully buy McTavish. Instead, it seems the two sides will be tasked only with deciding between a short-term bridge deal or a deal that carries McTavish through his prime.
The Minnesota Wild will be facing a similarly challenging question with top center Marco Rossi. Rossi is another player who managed a true breakout last year, with 24 goals and 60 points in 82 games. He stepped into a prime role with the Wild in the second-half of the year, taking on the top-line center role with Joel Eriksson Ek out with injury and routinely earning north of 20 minutes of ice time. Rossi looked up to the task, but then was surprisingly relegated to a fourth-line role for Minnesota’s six postseason games. The Wild are clearly at ends with the question of whether Rossi’s 5-foot-9 frame can stand up to a true #1 role. That hang-up has made Rossi’s situation perhaps the most likely to drag through the pre-season. And still, it’s hard to imagine Minnesota will give up easily on their most recent top-10 draft pick. Rossi could be a strong candidate for a short-term, prove-it contract – which would give Minnesota the time to figure out his lineup role. The Wild sit with just over $9.4MM in cap space.
There are plenty of strong candidates to sign next outside of the big three names. The gap between the Calgary Flames and impressive center Connor Zary has been revealed as narrow. Multiple players have already carved out lineup roles with their signing team, and now only need the deal to prove it – players like Seattle’s Ryker Evans and Nashville’s Luke Evangelista. And other teams are merely one contract away from a full book, like the Vegas Golden Knights with winger Alexander Holtz. Any of those situations could quickly cave, and land another promising young player with the ramp they need for next season.
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Roger McQueen Commits To Providence College
Aug. 6: Providence has officially announced McQueen’s commitment. That means he won’t be in training camp with the Ducks and will play out at least his freshman season with the Friars before potentially signing his first NHL deal as soon as their season ends.
Aug. 2: Last month, Ducks prospect Roger McQueen indicated that if he didn’t make Anaheim’s roster out of training camp, he would return to WHL Brandon for the upcoming season. However, it appears he has had a change of heart. Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald reports (Twitter link) that McQueen has been pursuing NCAA options with Providence emerging as the frontrunner for his services. Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal adds (Twitter link) that McQueen could announce his commitment to the Friars within the next couple of days.
The 18-year-old was the 10th overall pick back in June. A big center with plenty of offensive potential, McQueen ultimately slipped on draft day thanks to a back injury that cost him most of last season which made him more of a riskier selection. However, he did return late in the season and was quite productive, notching 10 goals and 10 assists in 17 games for the Wheat Kings.
Given that he missed most of the season due to injury, a return to Brandon would have made a lot of sense for McQueen to allow him to get more game reps. A healthy regular season and playoff run can lead junior players to push past the 80-game mark whereas in college, few teams get to half of that number so staying in junior could help make up for some lost development time.
On the other hand, going the college route would be an uptick in the level of competition McQueen would face. Meanwhile, after missing so much playing time, jumping from 17 games (20 including playoffs) to possibly four times that amount might come with some risks of its own while having more time to work on off-ice conditioning would help him fill out his six-foot-five frame.
It’s unclear if McQueen ultimately had the change of heart or if the Ducks indicated that their preference is for him to go to the NCAA. As a result of this decision, McQueen won’t be able to sign his entry-level contract as many first-round picks often do after being drafted or attend training camp with Anaheim.
Latest On Mason McTavish
The Ducks haven’t been actively shopping the signing rights to restricted free agent Mason McTavish, but that hasn’t stopped teams from expressing trade interest, as the center remains without a contract. Fervent interest will presumably be helped along by his essentially dominating the market for young centers. Wild RFA Marco Rossi’s talks have all but dried up with little to no interest league-wide in the long-term contract he desires. The Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Red Wings have all shown serious interest – the last club chief among them, James Murphy of RG writes.
Without much talk of an offer sheet, a notion sources told Murphy to dispel with Anaheim having ample space to match, McTavish has little control over his destiny. Speculation has indicated he’s concerned about his long-term role with the Ducks after their offseason shopping spree added needed depth to their forward group, but there’s little to no appetite from the Ducks’ end to facilitate a trade unless he outright refuses to sign a contract.
All the teams interested have a clear need for a second-line center. Unlike in SoCal, where there’s still a small chance for him to compete with Leo Carlsson for long-term 1C duties, there wouldn’t be that upward mobility there for him with Nick Suzuki in Montreal and Sebastian Aho in Carolina not vacating their posts anytime soon. The Wings have the weakest top pivot out of the group in Dylan Larkin, but he still wouldn’t be walking into Day 1 first-line duties there if that’s his goal.
While McTavish may have the standard profile of a high-motor but not hugely offensively untapped 2C, his performance last season shows there could be more to behold. The 22-year-old posted a team-leading 22 goals in 76 games, and his 52 points finished three back of Troy Terry for the team lead. That’s highly impressive production in an offensively stifled system under outgoing head coach Greg Cronin, and with his 12.2% shooting rate remaining projectable, there’s significant 65-to-75-point breakout potential for him this season as the team presumably adopts a more aggressive style under Joel Quenneville.
If Anaheim begins entertaining offers for the 6’1″ pivot’s signing rights, though, they’ll be looking for a blue-chip right-shot defense prospect as the principal point of the return, Murphy reports. That means names like 2023 first-rounders Axel Sandin-Pellikka would need to be in play in Detroit’s case, or that year’s No. 5 pick David Reinbacher in Montreal’s. Draft-capital-wise, it’s logical from the Ducks’ perspective after using the No. 3 overall pick on McTavish in 2021.
Ducks Sign Sam Colangelo, Tim Washe To Two-Year Deals
Aug. 4: Colangelo has had his deal officially announced by the club.
Aug. 1, 2:30 p.m.: While announcements of the signings briefly appeared on the team’s website, those were issued in error, sources tell Lee. Neither deal has yet gotten across the finish line. When Washe’s deal is signed, it will pay him $775K NHL/$175K AHL this season before converting to a guaranteed $850K salary in 2026-27, per PuckPedia.
Aug. 1, 1:45 p.m.: The Ducks have signed forwards Sam Colangelo and Tim Washe to two-year contracts, The Hockey News’ Derek Lee reports. Both were restricted free agents. The contracts carry a two-way structure in 2025-26 before converting to one-way deals for the 2026-27 campaign.
While both were teammates at Western Michigan in the 2023-24 season, Colangelo got a one-year head start on his pro career. The 2020 second-round pick signed his entry-level deal in the spring of 2024 after four years in college, going point-per-game in four showings with AHL San Diego to close out the season, as well as scoring his first NHL goal in a three-game trial.
The 23-year-old hit his stride as he kicked off his first full professional season in 2024-25. He didn’t make the Ducks out of camp but received his first recall from San Diego in November, bouncing up and down between leagues over the next few months before eventually earning a permanent NHL roster spot in late February. Colangelo finished the year with 22 goals and 40 points in 40 AHL games as well as 10 goals and a pair of assists for 12 points in 32 NHL contests, respectable production for his bottom-six deployment at 12:29 per game.
The 6’2″, 205-lb winger now has his sights set on cracking the Ducks’ roster out of camp for the first time. While there’s a path for him to do so, it’s not a given. Anaheim is widely expected to carry three goalies to begin the season, meaning there will presumably be only one extra forward spot to spare. Barring a surprise like veteran enforcer Ross Johnston landing on waivers, there are essentially two roster spots up for grabs. Colangelo will be in the group of players competing for them, as will Washe, veteran NHL/AHL tweener Jansen Harkins, Nikita Nesterenko, and 2024 No. 3 overall pick Beckett Sennecke, among others.
Washe, who turns 24 later this month, was an undrafted free agent pickup by the Ducks just a few months ago. The 6’3″ center had a breakout graduate season for Western Michigan in 2024-25, serving as their captain and posting a 16-22–38 scoring line in 42 games with a +22 rating en route to the program’s first national championship. He was only eligible for a one-year entry-level deal given his age, though, so he became a restricted free agent only a few weeks after signing his first NHL deal.
The Michigan native played two games for the Ducks to close out last season, going 4-for-8 on faceoffs with two shots and four hits while averaging 7:44 per game. His path to an everyday NHL role will presumably be as a fourth-line center, a position Anaheim has seemingly set in stone for next season after acquiring Ryan Poehling from the Flyers in exchange for Trevor Zegras. That makes his chances of cracking the roster slimmer than his former collegiate teammate’s, but there’s still a pathway for him to do so.
Both players will be restricted free agents again when their deals are up in 2027.
Is Lukas Dostal Poised For A Breakout?
The Anaheim Ducks face several key questions heading into the 2025–26 season, one of which is whether goalie Lukas Dostal can deliver a breakout campaign following the trade of veteran John Gibson, per NHL.com’s David Satriano.
Dostal appeared in a career-high 54 games with Anaheim last season, securing a 23-23-7 record and a .903 save percentage that aligns with his career average of .902. That performance allowed the Ducks to trade Gibson to the Red Wings at the draft for goaltender Petr Mrazek and two draft picks, as well as land Dostal a five-year, $32.5MM contract on July 17.
Ducks Loan Damian Clara, Lucas Pettersson To Brynäs IF
The Ducks have loaned goalie Damian Clara and forward Lucas Pettersson to the SHL’s Brynäs IF for 2025-26 as they continue their development, the Swedish club announced yesterday.
While Pettersson’s was previously assumed, Clara’s is noteworthy. The Italian netminder signed his entry-level contract last summer, and while the Ducks first loaned him to the SHL’s Färjestäd BK and then the Liiga’s Kärpät for 2024-25, he was a candidate to jump stateside and join the AHL’s San Diego Gulls this season after he played two games there down the stretch.
There’s a bit of a logjam in Anaheim’s goalie pipeline, though. They’re one of the few teams projected to carry three netminders on their NHL roster (Lukáš Dostál, Ville Husso, Petr Mrázek). They also have three goalie prospects under contract who will play for either the Gulls or the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers this year: Vyacheslav Buteyets, Calle Clang, and Tomas Suchanek. That meant there wasn’t a clear path for the promising Clara to get playing time statside next season, so they’ll instead get their youngest signed goaltender more reps overseas.
The 20-year-old Clara has played for Brynäs before, just not in Sweden’s top league. He spent the 2023-24 season there after Anaheim drafted him in the second round, playing a crucial role in helping Brynäs earn promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan back to the SHL. The 6’6″ goalie posted a .913 SV% in 34 regular-season games before logging a stellar .931 SV% and 1.68 GAA in 11 qualification games to send them back to the top flight.
Brynäs had an exceptionally successful first campaign back in the SHL, winning the regular-season title and finishing as runners-up in the playoffs. Clara now hopes to bolster their encore performance. He’ll share the crease with former NHL netminder Collin Delia, and another former NHLer, Erik Källgren, is on their roster but is expected to be out until January after undergoing hip surgery.
He and Pettersson, who the Ducks nabbed in the second round of the 2024 draft, will get to play with former Anaheim winger Jakob Silfverberg. This will be Pettersson’s first season in Brynäs after the 19-year-old posted a 9-10–19 scoring line in 26 games for Östersunds IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan last season.
Nathan Beaulieu Announces Retirement
Former first-round pick Nathan Beaulieu has announced his retirement from professional hockey, according to the NHLPA.
Beaulieu, 32, hangs up his skates after playing 471 NHL games for the Canadiens, Sabres, Jets, and Ducks. The longtime bottom-pairing defenseman last appeared with Anaheim in the 2022-23 season, spending the last two campaigns in Europe but playing sparingly due to injuries.
The Ontario native was the No. 17 overall pick of the 2011 draft by Montreal from the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs after helping guide the team to a Memorial Cup championship and being named to the tournament’s All-Star team. He was a tantalizing junior prospect, never outright dominating offensively but still putting up strong point production with dominant defensive impacts while playing a highly physical brand of hockey.
While his physicality translated to the professional level, the other parts of his game only did so in short bursts. Beaulieu only ever topped 20 points in a season once, making a career-high 74 appearances for Montreal in 2016-17 while receiving significant power-play deployment for the only time in his career. He averaged 19:29 per game for the Habs that year, putting together a 4-24–28 scoring line with 102 blocks.
Aside from that, he was still a serviceable bottom-pairing piece for the Habs for a few years after emerging as a full-time NHLer in 2014-15. He ended up recording 60 points and a +19 rating in 225 games for the team that drafted him before he was traded to the Sabres in the 2017 offseason.
After the trade, Beaulieu was firmly relegated to being a No. 7 option. He never made more than 60 appearances in a season after that relative breakout of a 2016-17 campaign, averaging 15:27 per game for Buffalo, Winnipeg, and Anaheim over his final six NHL seasons.
Beaulieu’s final NHL season saw him thrown to the wolves on a severely understaffed Ducks defense in 2022-23, recording four points and a -23 rating in 52 games with ghastly possession numbers. That tanked his value the following summer and led to his move overseas to Switzerland’s EHC Kloten, where he only had two points in 13 games before a hand injury ended his season.
The veteran lefty signed on with Barys Astana of the KHL for 2024-25, but was released after eight games with financial issues forcing the club to part ways with all of its import players. He quickly landed with HC Nove Zamky of the Slovak Extraliga but did not make an appearance for them due to injury.
Beaulieu finishes his career with 12 goals, 86 assists, 98 points, and a -14 rating in 471 regular-season games while averaging 16:18 per night. He also had five points in 21 playoff games with Montreal and Winnipeg. All of us at PHR wish him the best in retirement.
Arbitration Schedule For Remaining Cases Finalized
The arbitration hearing dates for the few remaining unsettled cases have been finalized, PuckPedia reports:
F Kaapo Kakko, Kraken: July 25
G Arvid Soderblom, Blackhawks: July 28
F Maxim Tsyplakov, Islanders: July 29
D Dylan Samberg, Jets: July 30
D Conor Timmins, Sabres: Aug. 2
F Nicholas Robertson, Maple Leafs: Aug. 3
D Jayden Struble, Canadiens: Aug. 3
There are only seven out of this year’s initial 11 player-elected arbitration cases still without a resolution as the hearings approach. Winnipeg had three of the players on that list and has settled with two of them, reaching a two-year, $3.7MM settlement with Morgan Barron and a substantial six-year, $45MM deal for Gabriel Vilardi.
The Ducks also had two arbitration cases on that list, but settled with both of them in the past few days. Depth defenseman Drew Helleson got a two-year, $2.2MM contract, while emerging star goaltender Lukas Dostal signed a five-year, $32.5MM deal.
There were two team-elected arbitration cases this year, the Sabres’ Bowen Byram and the Mammoth’s Jack McBain, but both have been settled.
As for the seven players above, they can continue talks with their clubs on a new deal until the hearing begins. After that, they’re bound to the arbitrator’s decision.
Players who reach an arbitration hearing are only eligible to sign a one or two-year contract. Since the player filed for arbitration in all seven cases above, the team gets to choose the contract length after receiving the arbitrator’s decision on the AAV. However, only Robertson, Soderblom, and Struble would be eligible for two-year contracts. Everyone else is one year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency status, so they can’t receive a multi-year arbitration award.
If the arbitration award exceeds $4.85MM in any case, the team can decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent.
Ducks Sign Drew Helleson To Two-Year Deal
The Ducks have signed restricted free agent defenseman Drew Helleson to a two-year contract, the team announced. The deal is worth $2.2MM with a cap hit of $1.1MM, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Helleson had previously elected salary arbitration, but he avoided a hearing with today’s settlement. Anaheim’s other arbitration case this offseason, No.1 goaltender Lukas Dostal, settled yesterday with a five-year, $32.5MM contract as a result.
The 24-year-old quietly emerged as a full-time option on the Ducks’ blue line last season, particularly late in the year. He started the year with AHL San Diego but remained on the roster for the rest of the season after a November recall, making 56 appearances and recording a 4-9–13 scoring line with a +6 rating.
That last stat is noteworthy, considering the Ducks had a -8 goal differential at 5-on-5 and a -44 goal differential overall. That number led all rookie defensemen, but advanced metrics don’t back it up. Helleson’s 43.1% shot attempt share was subpar, even on a weak possession team in Anaheim, and he didn’t see challenging deployment.
Nonetheless, the 2019 second-round pick has now established his floor as a No. 6/7 option in the NHL and will continue to serve in that capacity for the Ducks for the next two seasons. While initially drafted by the Avalanche, Anaheim acquired his signing rights in 2022 as part of the Josh Manson trade. He turned pro months later after finishing his junior year at Boston College.
Helleson always projected as a shutdown defenseman at the NHL level. The results were there for him as he averaged 16:21 per game last year with 73 blocks and 99 hits, but his possession play needs to improve for him to flourish as a quality stay-at-home piece with penalty-killing upside. Perhaps a system change under incoming head coach Joel Quenneville can help accomplish that feat.
The Minnesota native will be 26 years old upon expiry, keeping him under Anaheim’s control as an RFA in 2027. Whatever his next contract is, it will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.
The Ducks still have $21.4MM in cap space for 2025-26 with a projected roster size of 21, according to PuckPedia. They still have two notable unsigned RFAs, forwards Sam Colangelo and Mason McTavish, neither of whom was eligible for arbitration.
Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.