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Coming off a disastrous year, the Anaheim Ducks will be looking to improve over the summer in order to enter next season in a more competitive spot.
With a young group, the trick will be to add some veteran help, while not taking any opportunities away from younger players. Last year, we saw the team add John Klingberg, Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano and Dmitry Kulikov.
Before looking at other free agents though, it’s important to review who could be walking away from the Ducks this summer, and whether they could be brought back. Below, we look at Anaheim’s six notable UFAs and try to evaluate whether they’ve played their last game with the team.
NATHAN BEAULIEU - Brought in on a professional tryout, Beaulieu earned a contract and ended up playing in 52 games with the Ducks this year. While he got into quite a bit of game action though, he was a member of what was a terrible defensive unit and much like many other members of the blue line, Beaulieu didn’t find a whole lot of success with Anaheim this year.
VERDICT: Not re-signed
DEREK GRANT - While Grant does provide pretty decent production for a depth role, kills penalties, and can play either down the middle or on the wing, this should mark the end of his tenure with Anaheim. The forward is now 33 years old and the Ducks will have a chance to build some identity within their bottom-six. It often felt like a cluster of depth forwards just mixed together because the team needed to fill out their lineup. With an already fairly crowded forward group without factoring in UFA forwards, Grant is likely to find a different home.
VERDICT: Not re-signed
SCOTT HARRINGTON - Claimed off waivers just before the trade deadline, Harrington actually did take on quite a large role with the Ducks in his limited time with the team. The defender averaged over 18 minutes per game across 17 games with Anaheim. While the team has almost no NHL defenders under contract right now and will need bodies just to fill out their group though, it still seems fairly unlikely that Harrington returns over just adding someone more impactful in free agency.
VERDICT: Not re-signed
JAYSON MEGNA - The Ducks’ waiver claims this season were a point of frustration, at least for me. The team added the likes of Megna and Harrington, while passing up on some forwards who could actually add offense, in Eeli Tolvanen, Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen. Megna is already 33 years old and managed eight points in 42 games with the Ducks. He was just a depth forward for the team and Anaheim should be looking to give lineup spots to players who could stick around long-term or provide more of an impact.
VERDICT: Not re-signed
KEVIN SHATTENKIRK - Of any Ducks UFA, Shattenkirk is most likely to return. He may be 34 years old but he’s put up solid offensive numbers over the past two years and would warrant a short-term deal. I’m not the biggest Shattenkirk fan based on his defensive shortcomings, but Anaheim will need some players on short-term contracts until their prospects can make the jump and he could fill the void until then. He wasn’t moved for assets at the deadline and given their cap situation, Anaheim could probably outbid any other team if they wanted him back. I’d be very much okay with them finding a short-term solution elsewhere but if they can’t lock down a better option, Shattenkirk could be back.
VERDICT: Re-signed
ANTHONY STOLARZ - It was nice to see Stolarz get his shot over the last two years, but I’m not sure he’ll be back for a fifth season with the organization. The only way Stolarz is likely re-signed is if John Gibson is moved prior to July 1, making a tandem of Anthoyn Stolarz and Lukas Dostal a possibility. Even in that scenario though, you could certainly argue a more experienced goalie should partner with Dostal, in order to help his transition to a full-time NHL role. Stolarz was generally quite good with Anaheim despite a down year this season and should get a chance to back-up elsewhere, but probably won’t be a fit with the Ducks going forward.
VERDICT: Not re-signed
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On a side note: For anyone interested, over the last while, I’ve been working on a small project to project contract extensions for this year’s group of free agents. Any UFAs or RFAs with more than 10 NHL games played this year are getting a projection, with an article being released for the Top 50 free agents to give a more detailed breakdown of each projection.
Most of the players designated as a Top-50 Free Agent don’t have a projection released yet, and 2-3 will be posted each day throughout June, leading up to free agency on July 1. However, most UFAs and RFAs do have a projection already available.
For the Ducks, projections are out for Kevin Shattenkirk, Anthony Stolarz, Derek Grant, Jayson Megna, Scott Harringon and Nathan Beaulieu, along with several RFAs in Lukas Dostal, Max Comtois and Simon Benoit.
I’ve also already released an in-depth look at what Trevor Zegras’ next contract could look like, as one of this summer’s Top 50 Free Agents, which can be found here:
ARTICLE: Projecting Trevor Zegras’ next contract
Projections for both Troy Terry and Jamie Drysdale will be out later this month as well.
The project can be found at
HockeyComparables.com and I’ll be sharing projection articles on Twitter as they’re posted, using
@Hockey_Comps (any followers are appreciated!)
QuizMaker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JUNE
Ducks name Greg Cronin as head coach, John Gibson requests trade 
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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