Ducks Make First Round of Roster Cuts

By Thomas Harrington

Over the weekend, the Anaheim Ducks announced their first round of roster cuts. There was one notable player cut and another surprise or two, but the rest of the cuts were pretty much as expected. However, what is intriguing are the players who are still in camp and have a shot at making the opening night roster. Overall, 18 players were cut: Stu Bickel, Alex Dostie, Nicolas Kerdiles, Julius Nattinen, Austin Ortega, Kevin Roy, Zach Saar, Deven Sideroff, Tyler Soy, Jeff Schultz, Keaton Thompson, and Angus Redmond were assigned to San Diego, while Antoine Morand, Max Comtois, Turner Ottenbreit, Brady Lyle, and Kyle Olson were assigned to their respective junior teams, and Olle Eriksson Ek was assigned to Sweden. The Ducks now have 44 players left in camp, so they still have almost twice as many players as spots available.

It’s unsurprising to see the Ducks cut Bickel, Ortega, Saar, and Schultz; none of them are signed to an NHL contract and the plan was for them to be in San Diego this season. Similarly, it was unsurprising to see Ottenbreit and Lyle cut; both were junior invites and were invited to give them a shot, but they are currently not part of the Anaheim organization.

With Comtois, Morand, Olson, and Eriksson Ek being assigned to their junior and international teams, Anaheim no longer has any players from the 2017 draft in training camp. Comtois and Morand both got one preseason game before being assigned, but it was in the ugly 5-0 loss to San Jose. After the game, Randy Carlyle was clearly not happy with the team’s performance. Both players led the forwards with four minutes of powerplay time, but each finished with only one shot in the game. That lack of production is probably one of the reasons why they were cut. Both Comtois and Morand have since rejoined their respective junior teams and are already playing. Comtois scored a gorgeous overtime goal on Friday, leading Victoriaville to the win.

http://theqmjhl.ca/video/sept-2217-olympiques-1-tigres-2-ot

Hopefully they both have solid junior seasons and have a better camp next year. Olson didn’t play in any preseason games, which is unfortunate, but sometimes it’s the life of a recent late round pick. Hopefully he has a good season in juniors and has a strong camp next year. Eriksson Ek was dressed for the game against San Jose, but he was the backup and didn’t play at all. He’s heading back to Sweden where he’ll hopefully put up some good numbers playing against professional competition.

Ultimately, it’s unsurprising that Dostie, Nattinen, Sideroff, Thompson, and Redmond were assigned to San Diego. The plan for them all along was to be with the Gulls this season. Dostie, Sideroff, and Thompson each got one game in the preseason, while Nattinen didn’t play in any. Redmond was dressed, but served as the backup and didn’t see any game action. Before the preseason started, I thought that Sideroff, Thompson, or Nattinen had an outside shot at being in Anaheim at some point this season, but being in the first round of cuts means the players left are currently ahead of them on the depth chart. They are all probably at least a year away from making it to Anaheim.

Soy being assigned to San Diego was one of the biggest surprises to me. Right now, he’s not signed to an NHL contract. Since the Ducks own his rights, I don’t believe that he can sign an AHL only deal. So, if he’s going to stay in San Diego, the Ducks need to sign him to an entry level contract. He does have one year of junior eligibility as an overage player, and that’s what I’ve been expecting to happen with all summer. He didn’t play in any preseason games, but he did play well at the rookie tournament. By assigning him to San Diego, the Ducks are giving him more of a chance to prove that he deserves a contract and a roster spot with the Gulls. If he does, great. If not, he’ll be assigned back to juniors before San Diego’s season starts.

Roy and Kerdiles being cut are definitely the two biggest disappointments for the first round of roster cuts. Roy was one of San Diego’s top forwards last year and while I didn’t think he’d make Anaheim’s opening night roster, I was hoping he’d make it past the first round of cuts. Still, if he can go to the AHL and dominate, he’ll have a chance to make it to Anaheim this year. Kerdiles’ cut was far and away the most surprising of these 18 players. He has yet to play in any preseason games and has missed most of training camp with an injury. He also has to clear waivers before being assigned to San Diego, which he did successfully this morning. While disappointing, it’s not entirely a shock to see Kerdiles on waivers. It’s much easier to sneak a player through waivers and not have them claimed early in the preseason. Teams have so many players in camps of their own and are trying to figure out who is making the team. If the Ducks placed him on waivers closer to the start of the season, he’d be more likely to be claimed. Also, if Kerdiles is called back up to Anaheim, he won’t have to pass through waivers again for 30 days, which will give Anaheim more flexibility with him. Hopefully him going to San Diego is a way for him to get some playing time while he finishes recovering from injury and he’s back in Anaheim in the not too distant future.

With 44 players remaining on their roster, the Ducks still have some tough decisions to make, but it’s great to see players like Sam Steel, Max Jones, Andy Welinski, Jacob Larsson, Giovanni Fiore, Mitch Hults, Kalle Kossila, Marcus Pettersson, Jaycob Megna, Jack Kopacka, and Josh Mahura still in camp. Most of these players will be sent down before the season starts, but they’ll now get extra time with the big club and will likely see more preseason games going forward. Steel, Jones, Welinski, Larsson, Fiore, Kopacka, and Kossila all got a chance at some more preseason action last night against Vegas. Fiore scored a bad angle goal in the closing seconds of the game and was probably Anaheim’s most noticeable rookie. Jones and Steel both had an assist, while the the rest were scoreless. Larsson played over 20 minutes, while Welinski played about 18. Kopacka and Kossila didn’t play a ton, but both saw several minutes of shorthanded ice time. Kossila was an integral part of Anaheim’s final penalty kill when the team was down by two men for a full two minutes.

With San Diego’s training camp opening up on today and their first preseason game on Thursday, you can probably expect another round of roster cuts to come in the next couple of days to help the Gulls fill out their roster. With 44 players left, the Ducks need to cut 21 more players before the season starts.

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September 26th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, Ducks, ducksnpucks, Roster Cuts, training camp