Expectations and Aspirations for Young Crop of Ducks Players in Final 10 Games

All that remains of the Ducks’ landmark 30th NHL season is 10 games. And finally, they have all of their young studs healthy. Let’s look at what lies ahead for each of them.

In the loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, Trevor Zegras returned from an ankle fracture that sidelined him for 31 games. It was his second major injury of the season, after previously missing 21 games from October – December. His return against the Kraken was just his 21^st game of the season, which astonishingly was only the third game where he, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry, and Alex Killorn – the revamped top-six forward group in Anaheim – were all in the lineup together. Hasn’t exactly been the season that they, or anyone for that matter, envisioned.

But the return of Zegras officially marks a fully healthy young crop of players that includes the aforementioned Carlsson and McTavish, as well as defensemen Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger. There may only be 10 games left in the season, but its 10 games to get an excellent look at the future of this team. Let’s spend some time looking at expectations, and aspirations, for these five young players as the Ducks finish out another lost season.

Trevor Zegras

Expectation: Play 10 games, develop chemistry with top-six forwards, re-establish conditioning and confidence

Health has been Zegras’ biggest obstacle, so we’ll start there. If he plays these final 10 games, starting with the Kraken rematch tonight, then that would be a win. 30 games in a season can and should still be a considered a failure, though that’s hardly his fault. Therefore, he needs to get through this final stage of the season, get his reps in, get his game-speed conditioning back up and head into a critical offseason healthy and with an eye toward the 2024-25 campaign.

Aspiration: Facilitate and produce offense on a top-six forward line

Let’s say Zegras passes that test with flying colors. He has no lingering physical ailments, has no problem settling back into the lineup. After all, in an otherwise pathetic game by the Ducks offense earlier this week against the Kraken, Zegras was the best player on the ice for the Ducks. He had five shot attempts, won most of his faceoffs, and was responsible for a number of scoring chances. In the span of his first 60-minutes of game in action in over two months, he climbed from the third line, where he centered Isac Lundestrom and Brett Leason, to a top-six role on a line with McTavish and Frank Vatrano.

That’s a role he should stay in for the remainder of the season. He belongs at the top of the lineup, and if he says there, then it’s not out of the question that he will quickly resume his role as the key facilitator and distributor for this offensively deficient team.

Mason McTavish

Expectation: Play 10 games, get back on the scoresheet, limit penalties, and improve plus/minus

McTavish was cruising toward a stellar, point-per-game pace to his sophomore season until he started missing time with injuries in December. He has cooled off tremendously since then, producing points in bunches between several instances of scoring droughts.