The Anaheim Ducks sent most of their camp prospects down to their respective farm teams before playing the final games of this years Pre Season with the announced mix of veterans and youngsters in the lineup.

The team played pretty well, defeating the Detroit Red Wings (2-1), Seattle Kraken (6-3) and Winnipeg Jets (5-0). The two most impressive players on the roster were forwards Vitaliy Krivchenko (7 games, 2 goals, 6 assists, + 5 rating) and Lukas Dragicevic (7 games, 2 goals, 6 assits, +3 rating), who will now return to the San Diego Gulls and play topline-minutes in the AHL, starting the season.

Anaheim managed to stay healthy over the past few weeks. The only day-to-day decision is young swedish defenceman Emil Eriksson, who will be scratched come Opening Night next week. The lineup fo the game at Florida against the Panthers will probably look like this. (MM)

FORWARDS

Tim Stützle - Troy Terry - Ondrej Kase

Brayden Tracey - Marco Rossi - Andreas Athanasiou

Dylan Duke - Sam Steel - Rickard Rakell

Quinn Olson - Blake McLaughlin - Brett Leason

DEFENCEMEN

Jackson Lacombe - Moritz Seider

Ryan Johnson - Jake Bean

Kaiden Guhle - Hans Reinholdsson

GOALIES

Jesper Eliasson - Veini Vehviläinen

SCRATCHED

Lean Bergmann - Joel Farabee

Emil Eriksson

The Anaheim Ducks didn't get the results they wanted with the start of this years Pre Season, but their young prospects still had a chance to shine in the first week. The team lost in regulation to the New York Rangers (1-4), Buffalo Sabres (2-4) and San Jose Sharks (3-5) - and to the Montreal Canadians in shootout (5-6).

The most impressive prospects in the lineup were forwards Rail Khammatov (2 goals, 1 assist), Vitaliy Krivchenko (1 goal, 2 assists), Lukas Dragicevic (3 assists) and defencemen Hans Reinholdssson (1 goal, 2 assists) and Martin Koudelka (3 assists). Despite Khammatov all those players will finish the Pre Season with the Anaheim Ducks.

In the final games against the Detroit Red Wings, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets there will be a mix of veterans and prospects in the lineup, with only 8 regular roster players still not being dressed: defencemen Jake Bean, Jackson Lacombe and forwards Rickard Rakell, Marco Rossi, Sam Steel, Andreas Athanasiou, Ondrej Kase and Troy Terry will watch the remaining matches from inside the team lounge. (MM)

The Anaheim Ducks have been drafting and developing prospects over the past few years and will take the next step forward in that quest starting the 2025-2026 season. GM Mohr has trust in his young core and therefore didn't spent a lot of dollars on the free agency market. The Ducks added youngsters Hans Reinholdsson, Dylan Duke and Blake McLaughlin to their regular roster - coming from their AHL affiliate San Diego Gulls.

21-year-old Swedish defenceman Reinholdsson played 53 games with the Gulls last season (7 goals, 21 assists) and another 11 games with the Ducks (2 goals, 2 assists).

The 22-year-old US-born leftwinger Dylan Duke played 48 games with the Gulls last season (16 goals, 30 assists) and another 9 games with the Ducks (1 goal, 2 assists).

US-born center Blake McLaughlin has yet to make his debut with the Ducks. The 25-year-old played 74 games (15 goals, 35 assists) with the Gulls last season and has a total of 207 games (35 goals, 100 assists) over the past three seasons with San Diego.

The future looks promising in Anaheim, still having a lot of talented prospects who play in the AHL: defencemen Sean Behrens, Emil Eriksson, Aron Kiviharju and Martin Koudelka, but also forwards Jimmy Gendron, Lukas Dragicevic and recently drafted Vitaly Krivchenko and Dan Myers. "We worked pretty hard over the past few years to get that depth in our organization, and we're very proud to have those guys with us.", GM Mohr told the media.(MM)