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Ducks Recall Nikita Nesterenko

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The Ducks announced they’ve recalled forward Nikita Nesterenko from AHL San Diego. Since there were two open spots on the active roster, no corresponding move was required.

Nesterenko, 23, comes up from the minors for the first time this season after winger Brock McGinn landed on injured reserve last weekend. The New York native gives Anaheim an extra forward for their two-game road swing through Canada in case another injury strikes their group up front.

Nesterenko has played in 12 NHL games, all with the Ducks in the previous two seasons. The Boston College product has two goals and a -3 rating, averaging 12:51 per game. While a natural center, he’s been deployed almost exclusively at left wing in his brief NHL looks, losing all three of his faceoffs. He’s tended to positively impact the Ducks’ poor possession game in his small NHL sample, helping Anaheim control 44.4% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 compared to only 41.4% without him.

A sixth-round pick by the Wild back in 2019, Nesterenko arrived in Orange County at the 2023 trade deadline when Anaheim sent John Klingberg to Minnesota. Nesterenko, who was wrapping up his 34-point junior season with BC, signed his entry-level deal a few weeks later and joined the Ducks for the stretch run. The 6’2″, 183-lb forward has spent most of his time in San Diego since turning pro, scoring 21 goals and 49 points in 99 appearances for the AHL club. He has 12 points and a -9 rating through 29 games this season, ranking seventh on the team in scoring.

Nesterenko gives the Ducks a decent enough bottom-six option to insert into the lineup if another injury outside of McGinn’s or Trevor Zegras’ arises over the next couple of days. Nesterenko, who will remain waiver-exempt regardless of how long his recall lasts, will presumably be returned to San Diego when Anaheim returns home from its trip. He’ll be a restricted free agent again next summer, this time with arbitration eligibility, after spending a couple of weeks on the closed market last July before inking a two-way pact.

Ducks Reassign Calle Clang

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Dec. 30: Clang is headed back to San Diego today after backing up Dostál in yesterday’s 5-3 win over the Oilers, the team announced. Gibson should be ready to go from his illness tomorrow against the Devils.

Dec. 28: The Anaheim Ducks have recalled goaltender Calle Clang from the minor leagues. He is expected to back up Ducks starter Lukáš Dostál, with veteran John Gibson still out day-to-day with illness. The move was first reported by Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune, and seconded by NHL.com’s Kevin Kurz. In a corresponding move, Anaheim has also promoted Vyacheslav Buteyets from the ECHL to the AHL to fill Clang’s vacancy.

Clang doesn’t seem likely to make his NHL debut on this recall, but he nonetheless makes the move with an impressive resume. He’s served as the San Diego Gulls’ starting goalie this year, posting a team-leading seven wins and .896 save percentage in 19 appearances. Clang won out the starting role as a rookie last season, playing just well enough to win out starts over Tomas Suchanek and Alex Stalock – despite Suchanek posting a .910 in 29 games to Clang’s .897 in 32 games.

It was nonetheless an exciting performance that showed Clang was able of translating his strong play over from Sweden. He stood tall for Rogle BK through parts of four seasons prior to moving to the AHL, ultimately totalling a 22-15-0 record and .906 in 43 games with the pro squad. Those numbers helped Clang earn a third-round draft selection from the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2020. He stands Pittsburgh’s fourth-highest drafted goalie since 2000, though the club shipped him to Anaheim along with Zach Aston-Reese, Dominik Simon, and a second-round pick used on Tristan Luneau in their 2022 acquisition of Rickard Rakell. Two years later, Clang now stands as the top goalie on Anaheim’s call-up chart – helped along by Suchanek suffering a long-term injury before the year started. Clang will try to prove his place on this call-up – if he’s able to step into any ice time.

Anaheim Ducks Place Brock McGinn On Injured Reserve

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The Anaheim Ducks announced they’ve placed forward Brock McGinn on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury before a matchup this afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers. The roster move marks the second time the Ducks have had to move McGinn to the injured reserve this season.

McGinn missed seven games during his previous injured reserve placement from mid-November to early December. He was similarly sidelined with a lower-body injury and will miss even more game action under his current designation.

It’s par for the course for McGinn throughout his career. He’s consistently been rostered in the NHL for the last eight seasons between the Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Ducks but hasn’t managed a full 82-game season since 2018-19.

Still, when healthy, he’s provided quality depth scoring to a snake-bitten Anaheim offense. He’s scored four goals and eight points in 26 games for the Ducks this season averaging 11:43 of ice time per game. McGinn won’t break any scoring records for Anaheim this season but it’s better than nothing for an offense in the league’s basement with a 2.38 GF/G average.

He primarily played on the team’s fourth line alongside Isac Lundeström and Brett Leason, meaning the injury designation should give Ross Johnston and/or Jansen Harkins an extended look in the Ducks lineup. McGinn’s placement on the injured reserve will likely be retroactive to December 23rd meaning he’ll be eligible to return on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils.

Blues Acquire Cam Fowler From Ducks

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Cam Fowler’s 15-year career with the Anaheim Ducks has come to an end. The St. Louis Blues organization announced they’ve acquired Fowler (38.5% retained) and a 2027 fourth-round pick for defensive prospect Jeremie Biakabutuka and a 2027 second-round pick.

Once the trade call is finalized, the Ducks organization will have parted with their longest-tenured player. Fowler was only nine games away from reaching the 1000th of his career with Anaheim but will now accomplish the career mark as a member of the Blues.

Consistency has been the name of the game for Fowler throughout his career. Anaheim selected Fowler with the 12th overall pick of the 2010 NHL Draft and debuted a year later during the 2010-11 season. He finished his rookie campaign with 10 goals and 40 points in 76 contests finishing eighth in Calder Trophy voting.

He’s averaged approximately 38 points a season for the next 14 years and impressively averaged 23 minutes of ice time per game across that timeline. His career CorsiFor% of 49.7% and career on-ice save percentage in all situations of 90.2% show that the Ducks have leaned on Fowler’s two-way play and used him in nearly all situations.

St. Louis is filling a clear need on the left side of their defense for less than expected. The Blues organization will owe Fowler just under $4MM a year for the remainder of this season and next and he has the experience to move up and down the lineup.

Key injuries to Torey Krug and Nick Leddy have left a sizeable hole in the lineup. Philip Broberg has been a bright spot in the top-four but the team can’t continue to utilize Ryan Suter or Pierre-Olivier Joseph as the other option.

The addition of Fowler isn’t expected to pull St. Louis up the standings but it shouldn’t hurt their chances either. The Blues are four points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with one game in hand on their division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche.

At any rate, the acquisition of Fowler gives them cost certainty on their blue line for next season. Fowler makes seven St. Louis defensemen signed beyond this season and they’ll likely reprise their roles next year. The team could move out of Leddy’s contract as he’s also being paid $4MM by the Blues but their top-four is likely set.

Biakabutuka, from Longueuil, Quebec, is in his second full year with the Blues organization. He’s primarily spent time in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades where he’s collected five goals and 22 points in 76 contests. It’s unlikely he’ll suit up for the Ducks in the AHL meaning he’ll suit up for their ECHL affiliate in Tulsa.

In the announcement from the Blues organization, the team also shared they’ve sent down defenseman Matthew Kessel to their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. St. Louis didn’t require eight defensemen on the active roster and Kessel was the only waiver exempt among them.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Anaheim and St. Louis were working on a Fowler trade. 

Friedman was the first to report the majority of the trade package. 

Friedman was the first to report Biakabutuka was included in the deal. 

Ducks Activate Robby Fabbri, Reassign Sam Colangelo

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The Anaheim Ducks have activated forward Robby Fabbri off of injured reserve. Fabbri hasn’t played since November 10th, after suffering a knee injury that required surgery. He was expected to miss up to six weeks, but will instead return after just over a month out. To make room for the activation, Anaheim has sent 22-year-old forward Sam Colangelo back to the minor leagues. Colangelo was called up on November 19th and has played in eight games since then. He didn’t manage any scoring, with a -3, 10 shots on net, and 14 hits standing as his only notable stat changes.

Anaheim should get a much better chance to assess Fabbri now that he’s back to full health. The veteran was traded to Anaheim alongside a fourth-round draft pick on July 3rd, with goaltender Gage Alexander headed back to the Detroit Red Wings. Fabbri played in the first 14 games of Anaheim’s season before falling to injury, but only posted two goals, a -6, and six penalty minutes. He served as a core piece of the team’s middle six, averaging 16:33 in ice time and minutes on the second-unit penalty kill.

Fabbri is a veteran of nine NHL seasons. Many of those years have been cut short by injury, but he’s nonetheless managed a productive 100 goals and 202 points in 412 career games. Nearly all of that scoring – 146 points, to be exact – have come at even-strength. That 5v5 scoring, and his ability to fill roles on the wings or down the middle, have made Fabbri a routine fixture in NHL lineups, despite routine lower-body injuries.

Winger Brett Leason earned a bump in the lineup in Fabbri’s absence and made strong work of the opportunity. He recorded seven points in the first seven games of the promotion, proudly supporting Anaheim to a 4-2-1 record. Both he and the team have slowed down in the six games since – with Leason only posting one additional point. Still, he’s likely done enough to maintain his spot in the lineup while Fabbri eases his way back to 100 percent.

Trevor Zegras Sustained Torn Right Meniscus, Out Six Weeks Following Surgery

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Ducks forward Trevor Zegras underwent surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’s estimated to return to the lineup in six weeks.

Zegras has already missed three games with the injury, which he sustained on Dec. 4 against the Golden Knights. The 23-year-old fell awkwardly following a faceoff in the defensive zone, collapsing on his leg while skating backward away from the dot. He did not return to the game and landed on injured reserve shortly thereafter.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported Tuesday that Zegras was seeking a second opinion on how to move forward from the then-undisclosed lower-body issue but evidently quickly decided on surgery. As such, he’ll likely miss a tad more than if he opted to try and rehabilitate the tear without a surgical procedure, but carries far less risk for re-injury. The team anticipates his knee will return to full strength when he’s back in the lineup shortly before the season pauses for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Eric Stephens of The Athletic relays.

Zegras will now miss significant time for the second season in a row with a lower-body issue, even if it’s not as long of an absence as initially feared. The 2019 ninth-overall pick missed 20 games in the early going last year with an undisclosed LBI before undergoing ankle surgery in January that cost him another 31 contests.

Those injuries largely offered an explanation for Zegras’ poor production last season, even when he was in the lineup. His 15 points in 31 games worked out to a 40-point pace over a full season, a stark downturn from the career-best 23 goals and 65 points he’d put up the year before. It’s been more of the same in 2024-25, managing just 10 points in 24 games before landing on the shelf. He’s averaging 16:57 per game as he’s bounced around the top nine, the lowest since his rookie season, and he’s also logged a career-worst 45.5 CF% at even strength.

Zegras is the second Ducks forward to undergo meniscus surgery in the first few months of the campaign, joining fellow top-nine piece Robby Fabbri on IR. While neither had been particularly productive in the early going – Fabbri had only two goals in 14 games before getting hurt – it’s still not an easy thing to swallow for a Ducks team scoring 2.37 goals per game, second-worst in the league.

A six-week return timeline puts Zegras back in the lineup on Jan. 23 against the Penguins, meaning he’s slated to likely miss another 20 games while recovering. The New York native is in the second season of a three-year, $17.25MM deal.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Trevor Zegras Seeking Second Opinion On Knee Injury

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The Ducks will be without the services of forward Trevor Zegras for the foreseeable future after suffering a knee injury last week.  After undergoing testing recently, it appears there is still some potential ambiguity regarding how much time he’ll miss.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that Zegras is seeking second opinions on what the best process will be to treat the injury, adding a more concrete timeline for how long he’ll be out for could come in the next day or two.

Last season was a rough one for Zegras.  Contract talks dragged out, causing him to miss most of training camp and the preseason and he got off to a slow start that he never really recovered from.  The 23-year-old missed considerable time with two significant injuries, limiting him to just 31 games where he underwhelmed with six goals and nine assists.

Nonetheless, after a summer of trade speculation, there was optimism that Zegras would be able to have a bounce-back year in 2024-25.  Unfortunately for both him and the Ducks, that hasn’t really happened.  Through 24 games this season, he has four goals and six assists in a little under 17 minutes a night of playing time.

With this report, it seems likely that Zegras won’t be adding to those numbers anytime soon.  Often in these instances, the second opinion sought will be in the hopes of rehabbing an injury over undergoing a surgical procedure that would take considerably longer to recover from.

It’s worth noting that Zegras only has one year left on his bridge deal after this one, an agreement that carries a $5.75MM cap charge and qualifying offer along with arbitration eligibility.  If his absence winds up being a long-term or season-ending one, there will be even more question marks around him heading into the 2025 offseason.

Kevin Shattenkirk Announces Retirement

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Unrestricted free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has announced his retirement after 14 NHL seasons and 952 regular-season games, per an NHLPA release. The 35-year-old wrote a lengthy message to his seven NHL teams, their staffs, and his family, and shouted out many other specific helpers and mentors, one you can read entirely on his X account.

The 6’0″, 212-lb Shattenkirk made his NHL debut four seasons after being drafted 14th overall by the Avalanche in 2007, but the Boston University product didn’t last long in a Colorado uniform. After recording seven goals and 26 points in his first 46 NHL games for the Avs, they dealt him to the Blues in a blockbuster trade before the 2011 deadline that saw former first-overall pick Erik Johnson head the other way.

By the time the 2011-12 season rolled around, he’d established himself as a fixture in the Blues’ top four, posting 43 points and a +20 rating in his sophomore season while placing 18th in Norris Trophy voting. “Shatty” went on to have the most productive years of his career in St. Louis, routinely averaging over 20 minutes per game, earning Norris votes three times, and totaling 59 goals and 258 points in 425 regular-season games as a Blue. He ranks seventh in Blues franchise history in goals, assists and points and sits 12th on the all-time franchise games played list among blue-liners.

St. Louis routinely made the postseason with Shattenkirk in tow but only advanced past the first round twice. But with Shattenkirk in the final season of his contract in the 2016-17 campaign and set to earn a considerable raise on his previous $4.25MM cap hit, St. Louis made him arguably the top rental acquisition available at the 2017 deadline and shipped him to the Capitals for a haul that included a first-round pick, later flipped to the Flyers to acquire future captain Brayden Schenn (Philadelphia used the selection to draft Morgan Frost). Shattenkirk managed 14 points in 19 regular-season contests for Washington but hit a rut in the postseason, limited to a goal and six assists in 13 games with a -4 rating as the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Caps were upset by the Penguins in the Second Round.

Shattenkirk understandably wasn’t brought back and hit free agency that offseason, inking a rich four-year, $26.6MM commitment with the Rangers. However, his offensive production and possession play dipped significantly upon arriving in Manhattan. After posting a career-worst 0.38 points per game and a -15 rating in the 2018-19 campaign, New York bought out the final two seasons of his contract and made him a UFA again ahead of schedule.

He landed a one-year, $1.75MM pact with the Lightning, receiving reduced minutes on a stacked defense core that featured names like Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev ahead of him on the depth chart. He responded with 34 points in 70 games, a much-improved 53.7 CF%, and added 13 points in 25 playoff games as he captured his first and only Stanley Cup.

Shattenkirk became a free agent again at season’s end. After rebuilding his market value in Tampa, he inked another multi-year deal, heading back to the Western Conference on a three-year, $11.7MM pact with the rebuilding Ducks. Anaheim had just a 71-114-35 record in Shattenkirk’s three seasons in Orange County. However, the New York native still averaged top-four minutes and posted 77 points in 212 appearances as a stable veteran presence along with Cam Fowler on an otherwise inexperienced Ducks back end.

After his tenure in Anaheim quietly ended in 2023, he joined the Bruins on a cheap one-year deal for the 2023-24 campaign. He played a supporting depth role more than anything else, serving as a semi-routine healthy scratch for the first time and averaging a career-low 15:47 per game. The right-shot defender still contributed 24 points in 61 games and received second-unit power-play duties, but that wasn’t enough to generate interest in a guaranteed deal for this season. Shattenkirk was connected to several teams on potential tryouts late in the offseason but opted not to sign any and didn’t participate in a training camp.

With Shattenkirk’s NHL career now officially in the rearview mirror, one of the few unsigned options on defense for teams still looking to add experienced depth is now off the market. He closes the book on a lengthy run in the pros that saw him record 103 goals, 381 assists and 484 points in 952 games. Along the way, he totaled 544 PIMs, 1,886 shots on goal, 928 hits, and averaged 20:17 per game for his career. His estimated career earnings total $60.725MM, per PuckPedia.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Kevin as he enters the post-playing phase of his hockey journey.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Ducks Wanted To Include Cam Fowler in Jacob Trouba Trade

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Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Brendan Lemieux has signed a contract with HC Davos, matching a report earlier this week that the 27-year-old would move overseas to continue his career. The Hurricanes and Lemieux mutually split this past week, allowing him to move to Switzerland to play in the National League. Lemieux spent this season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, making $775K on a one-way deal. It was the first time Lemieux was in the AHL since the 2017-18 season, and the former second-round pick was struggling offensively, with just two goals in 12 games.

As for why Lemieux chose to go overseas, it does appear that he was chasing a new opportunity. Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News writes that Lemieux has signed for the rest of this season as well as two additional years.

In other morning notes:

  • Hockey Canada tweeted that Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan will attend the team’s selection camp but won’t participate for precautionary reasons. The news caps off an eventful, albeit difficult couple of days for the 19-year-old. Cowan recorded a point for the 56th consecutive game on Friday, unofficially setting an OHL record, but was injured a short time later by an open-ice hit. In a corresponding move, Team Canada added Anaheim Ducks prospect Beckett Sennecke to their selection camp. The 2024 third-overall pick has 21 goals and 23 assists in 26 OHL games this season and has 14 points over his last four games.
  • It’s being reported that the Anaheim Ducks were hoping to include defenseman Cam Fowler in the trade to acquire Jacob Trouba (as per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fowler has been looking for a trade for quite some time, but the Rangers wanted to keep flexibility for this year and next and wouldn’t have realized much savings if they were to add Fowler’s $6.5MM cap hit. Friedman notes that the Ducks and Fowler are looking for a solution to their situation that will help both the team and the long-time Ducks veteran. The 33-year-old Fowler has been a perennial 40-point player for most of his career but has struggled this season with just three assists in 14 games.

Ducks To Place Trevor Zegras On IR, Activate Brock McGinn

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12/7: Zegras will undergo additional testing on Monday to determine how long he’ll miss, per Sporstnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Headlines. This could be a chance to learn more about what seemed to be a low-contact injury. Zegras underwent surgery in January to repair a fracture in his left ankle – the same ankle that he seemed to injure on Wednesday – though it’s unclear if the two injuries are related in any way.

12/6: Trevor Zegras’ game-ending injury from a few nights ago will now extend over at least a week. The depth chart manager for The Hockey News and PuckPedia reported that the Anaheim Ducks would place Zegras on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and activate Brock McGinn (X Link).

Zegras quickly left partway through the second period of Wednesday’s contest and couldn’t put any weight on one of his legs. The Anaheim youngster finished the game with a -1 rating over 6:08 of ice time.

There have been no further updates regarding the severity of Zegras’ injury. Still, it was expected he wouldn’t play in the Ducks’ next game after Derek Lee of The Hockey News reported he wasn’t at practice this morning. Zegras will only miss two games should he miss the minimum seven days on the injured reserve. It may be a chance for him to reset on the season as the former 65-point scorer only has four goals and 10 points through 24 contests this year.

McGinn’s return to the active roster might not be Anaheim’s only positive injury development. Lee also shared that Robby Fabbri was back on the ice for the team’s practice this morning despite being on week three of a six-week recovery timeline. Lee’s fellow writer at The Hockey News, Patrick Present, additionally reported that Leo Carlsson was back on the ice in a non-contact jersey.

Anaheim has had a fair number of injury concerns through the first quarter of the 2024-25 NHL season but that appears to be ending soon. The Ducks are on a pathway toward a fully healthy lineup in the coming weeks combined with today’s acquisition of defenseman Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers.

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