Anaheim Prospects We May See In The NHL This Season
By Thomas Harrington
When Anaheim made the San Diego Gulls their AHL affiliate, it became easier than ever for the Ducks to call up players when needed. It could be for an injury fill-in, for a sick player, or because they are producing at such a rate in the AHL that they deserve the call-up. Regardless of reason, you can expect to continue to see a number of San Diego players make their way to Anaheim at some point this season. Dozens of players have gone back and forth between Anaheim and San Diego ever since this affiliation started. Overall, seven players played for both San Diego and Anaheim last season. Five of them were Anaheim prospects: Sam Colangelo, Ian Moore, Drew Helleson, Tristan Luneau, and Nikita Nesterenko. Also, both Tyson Hinds and Calle Clang were called up to Anaheim but didn’t play in any NHL games. Here are the prospects we could see play in Anaheim this season.
I will primarily be including players signed to NHL contracts. College and unsigned European players will only be included if I think they could make their NHL debut at the end of the season. Moore, Colangelo, and Jackson LaCombe are all former NCAA players who signed their entry-level deals at the end of their college careers and then joined the Ducks. Don’t expect to see college players like Austin Burnevik or Michael Callow below. Most players from the 2024 and 2025 drafts will also not be included because Anaheim rarely has prospects head to the NHL so soon after being drafted. So players like Lasse Boelius, Eric Nilson, and Damian Clara won’t be included either. I’ll start by naming the prospects among the goaltenders, defensemen, and forwards that I think are most likely to be called up from San Diego. I’ll then go over the dark horse candidates from the Gulls, junior players who may get a few games at the start of the season, and wrap it up by looking at players who could make their NHL debut after their college or European seasons are over.
Likely To See In Anaheim
The John Gibson era in Anaheim has come to an end, and Lukas Dostal is now the undisputed starter in the Ducks’ crease. Petr Mrazek will back him up, and Ville Husso is the third goaltender in the system. With Gibson gone, it does feel like Anaheim’s crease is a little more unsettled than it has been in some time. If Dostal is injured or Mrazaek and Husso struggle, then I could see Anaheim calling up one of the rookie netminders. If they do, I think Tomas Suchanek or Clang are the ones most likely to get the call. I think Suchanek has a higher ceiling, but it remains to be seen how he bounces back from missing all of last season due to injury. I wouldn’t put either being called up as likely, but similar to Clang getting a brief callup last season, it could happen.
Anaheim’s defensive core is young but feels pretty established. Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, and Helleson are all 24 or younger and played 50 or more games for the Ducks this past season. The only real veterans on the backend are Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas. The Ducks will almost certainly carry at least seven defensemen for much of the season, meaning that at least another of their young defensemen could see significant time in Anaheim.
If there’s a young defenseman who will be on Anaheim’s roster on a consistent basis, it’s most likely going to be Luneau. That’s not a guarantee though. I thought the same thing last season, and then Helleson surprised everyone. But going into the season, Luneau should be the first callup from San Diego if he’s not part of Anaheim’s 23 man roster. The other player with an excellent chance is Moore, who made his NHL debut at the end of last season after signing his entry-level deal with the Ducks. It remains to be seen if he takes the Cutter Gauthier or Colangelo route. Both made their NHL debuts after finishing their careers. Gauthier then spent all of the following season in the NHL while Colangelo split time between Anaheim and San Diego. I think Moore follows a similar path to Colagenlo and plays for both the Ducks and Gulls this season. The final defenseman who is likely to be called up is Hinds. He got the call last year but never made it into any games. He’s more of a stay-at-home defenseman, and if that’s what Anaheim needs, he could make his way up from San Diego.
While the defense looks pretty set, things feel less set at forward. Mikael Granlund, Troy Terry, Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn, Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, and Mason McTavish figure to be in the lineup on a consistent basis. Newly acquired veteran Ryan Poehling likely will as well. Ross Johnston played 43 games last season and could play a similar number this year, and Jansen Harkins played 60 games and will be pushing to play even more. However, those last two spots are far from a sure thing, and young players like Colangelo and Nesterenko will also be vying for playing time.
Given how they signed him as a free agent right out of college and gave him NHL time at the end of the season, there’s no question to me that Tim Washe will be among the first callups from San Diego. There’s also a chance he plays well enough to stick with the team all year. After a difficult start to last year that included a demotion to the ECHL, Sasha Pastujov became San Diego’s most dangerous forward and has a legitimate chance to make his NHL debut this year if he keeps playing like he did from last November to the end of the season.
Dark Horses
With the more obvious candidates out of the way, here are my dark horse picks to possibly make their NHL debuts this season. At forward, I think there are three dark horse candidates from San Diego who could make their NHL debuts this year: Jan Mysak, Nathan Gaucher, and Yegor Sidorov. Mysak finished third in goals and fourth in points on the Gulls last season. He had a slow start to the season, but things turned around for him starting in December. If he can start the season much better, we could see him get the call. Gaucher had a difficult season, including missing the final month of the season with an injury. If he’s fully recovered and playing better, I could see him getting called up to get some NHL experience on the fourth line. Sidorov is one of the more dangerous players on the Gulls’ roster. Last season, among San Diego’s rookies, only Colangelo had more goals, and he and Luneau had more points than Sidorov. If he can find some consistency in his game, Sidorov could get the call as well.
On the back end, I have one dark horse candidate, and that’s assuming he plays the entire year in North America. Stian Solberg had a very successful end of season stint with the Gulls. If he stays stateside, it will probably be to spend the entire year in San Diego. However, if he is playing well enough, he has an outside chance to get called at some point during the season.
Last year, there were no junior eligible players who were given an NHL tryout before going back to their CHL team. This year, I think it’s highly likely that Beckett Sennecke gets that tryout. I thought he had an outside chance last year, but an injury suffered before the season even started derailed that opportunity for him. As long as he’s healthy, I think we’ll see Sennecke in Anaheim’s opening night lineup. I don’t expect him to stick around for the full season, but he’ll probably make his NHL debut this year. Besides Sennecke, I don’t think any of Anaheim’s other CHL players are likely to get a tryout.
The Ducks have several players playing in the NCAA this season, but only one senior, Kyle Kukkonen. Over the past few seasons, it’s been very common for the Ducks to have a graduating senior sign their entry-level deal and join Anaheim to end the season. LaCombe, Colangelo, and Moore have all done that in recent seasons, but I don’t think it will happen this year. Unless Kukkonen really explodes in his final year of NCAA hockey, I would expect him to go to the AHL and finish the season with the Gulls rather than the Ducks. If Roger McQueen is having a dominant freshman year, there’s a chance he could sign his entry-level deal and join the Ducks, but I think he’s more likely to play two years of college hockey before turning pro.
Overseas, the Ducks have two prospects who have a chance to come to North America when their season ends, though I think it unlikely. Lucas Pettersson signed a two-year contract in the SHL, though it has an out clause to come to North America after the first season. If he has a monster season, Anaheim could opt to bring him over late in the season. Pettersson has already signed his entry-level deal with Anaheim. Herman Traff is under contract in the HockeyAllsvenskan for one year. He’s currently unsigned by the Ducks, but if he’s playing well, they could sign him with the intention of joining Anaheim’s roster late in the season. Of the two, I think Pettersson is more likely to join the Ducks, but I’d be surprised if either did.
The Ducks are mired in the longest postseason drought in franchise history. Anaheim feels like a better team than the past several seasons, but the playoffs are far from a sure thing. Hopefully all of the youth that has joined the team in recent years or will join them this year will help the Ducks improve and be in the thick of the playoff race towards the end of the season.
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September 19th, 2025