The Anaheim Ducks head into the 2025 offseason with $38.69 million in cap space and need to spend $13.79 million to reach the cap floor. Ownership has given general manager Pat Verbeek a mandate to push for the playoffs in 2025-26 and has given him the green light to spend to the cap ceiling, if it’s deemed necessary to achieve that goal.
Barring extensions signed before July 1, the 2025 free agent class will consist of one franchise-altering superstar (Mitch Marner) and a long list of quality players just beneath at every position who could provide varying degrees of their personal brand and impact to a team’s depth chart.
The Ducks currently have 16 players under contract for the 2025-26 season, with five restricted free agents under team control.
They were a team near the bottom of the league in most traditional and underlying statistical categories in 2024-25 and could use upgrades at several positions within their lineup. Verbeek has stated his priority to add goal scoring, and recently hired head coach Joel Quenneville has traditionally valued puck possession.
Three spots in the lineup the Ducks could look to address in free agency are a top-of-the-lineup producing forward, a two-way middle-six center, and a mobile defensive defenseman.
Ducks Potential Free Agent Fits: Top of the Lineup Point Producer
With how the Ducks roster is constructed and the brand of hockey they’re hoping to ice on a nightly basis, who are the best fits on the free agent market?
While Verbeek has stated the Ducks’ biggest need heading into the 2025-26 season is improved goal scoring. The point-producing forwards at the very top of the free agency class are enticing (Mitch Marner, Nikolaj Ehlers, Brock Boeser, etc.), but it can be argued that the actual glaring weakness within the Ducks’ depth chart is a two-way middle-six center.
In the 2024-25 season, the Ducks allowed the 10th-most goals per game (3.18) in the NHL, the most shots against per game (32.3), and deployed the league’s 29th-ranked penalty kill (74.2%).
An improved offense will naturally lift those defensive numbers. Still, as the current roster is constructed, the Ducks don’t have a reliable option down the middle who can match up against opposing top lines, win a key faceoff, and kill penalties while providing depth scoring at the other end of the ice.
All contract projections provided byAFP Analytics
![Feb 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Finland forward Mikael Granlund (64) celebrates afterscoring the winning goal against Team Sweden goalie Linus Ullmark (35) in the overtime period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images](https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_hockey_news_anaheim_ducks_articles_460/0cf4c16d3c4db6ff1299102a4a4b6263)
Contract Projection: 2 years, $4,975,550 AAV
Granlund (33) enters the 2025 offseason having produced at the third-highest rate in his 13-year NHL career, when he scored 66 points (22-44=66) in 83 games. Though a natural center, he was shifted to the wing after a mid-season trade sent him from the San Jose Sharks to the Dallas Stars, where he finished his 2024-25 campaign with 21 points (7-14=21) in 31 games, and added ten points (5-5=10) in 18 playoff games before the Stars were eliminated in the Western Conference Final by the Edmonton Oilers.
Granlund is a detail-oriented center who can be classified more as a play-builder or play-connector than a driver, as his career high goal total for a single season sits at 26, and he’s only eclipsed the 20-goal mark three times. He correctly fills lanes off the puck and angles attackers to low-danger areas while seldom missing assignments in coverage.
Though his contract will likely come in at a higher dollar value and term than projected (unless he remains in Dallas), he’s the kind of center that can keep up with opposing talented centers, defensively, while buoying offense from a second or third line.
Contract Projection: 4 years, $4,983,054 AAV
Suter (29) just wrapped his fifth full season in the NHL after having gone previously undrafted and garnering attention following a successful five-year career in the Swiss NL. His comfort level in the NHL has seemingly increased year after year, culminating in career highs in goals (25), assists (21), and points (46) in 2024-25 for the Vancouver Canucks.
He was the most-utilized Canucks forward on the penalty kill in 2024-25 and featured on their second power play unit. Only two of his 25 goals were scored with the man-advantage, highlighting his proficiency at 5v5. Though a capable defender who possesses a nose for the net, his face-off percentage was a poor 42.7% last season.
Despite a slight frame (5-foot-11, 174 pounds), Suter is consistently below pucks and in proper positions to support. He has the potential to be an impactful complementary player in the middle six of a forward group like the Ducks have.
Contract Projection: 3 years, $7,060,633
Nelson (33) has been one of the most consistent and healthy 50-60 point centers in the NHL for most of his 13-year NHL career, setting career highs across the board in 2022-23 with 75 points (36-39=75) in 82 games.
He made an immediate impact after a mid-season trade from the New York Islanders to the Colorado Avalanche in 2024-25, where he finished his campaign with 13 points (6-7) in 19 games and added four assists in seven playoff games.
Nelson featured on the Islanders’ second penalty kill unit in 2024-25 and has been used sparingly in that role throughout his career.
He’s surprisingly speedy and physically imposing with his 6-foot-4, 212-pound frame, which he utilizes to win battles in tight areas and disrupt plays with his length. Though not a traditional matchup and penalty-killing center, if he is to earn his projected AAV, especially with a team like the Ducks, who are in need, he would likely be tasked with taking on more defensive responsibilities.
Other potential fits on the free agent market: Sam Bennett, John Tavares, Christian Dvorak
A middle-six center with offensive capabilities but is also willing and able to assume difficult defensive roles is potentially the biggest weakness in the Ducks’ depth chart heading into next season. Listed centers on the current roster include Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Ryan Strome, and Isac Lundestrom.
If the team does indeed intend to make a significant push for the playoffs in 2025-26, there will come times when they need to pull out a close win and relatively shut down elite opponents like Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid, etc. At this stage in their careers, none of the mentioned five centers on the Ducks roster have that capacity just yet, if they ever will.
Adding a capable two-way center will alleviate some of those responsibilities for the Ducks’ budding stars and will allow them to explore the reaches of their offensive potential.
Ducks Wont Be Bothered by Offer Sheets
Victory+ Founder on Ducks, Stars & More
6 Former Ducks Advance to 2025 Stanley Cup Final
Photo: Apr 21, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars center Mikael Granlund (64) in action during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche in game two of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Marchand grateful for Stanley Cup chance with Panthers after ‘stressful' season originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Brad Marchand is now four wins away from his second Stanley Cup title, something that has eluded him for more than a decade.
He has made a seamless transition to the Panthers lineup after being sent to Florida on trade deadline day in March following 16 seasons with the Boston Bruins.
The veteran forward has played his role on the third line alongside Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen almost flawlessly. Marchand has tallied 14 points in 17 playoff games for the Panthers so far. The only player with more postseason points than Marchand since 2011 is Nikita Kucherov.
But the 2024-25 campaign hasn’t been easy for the 37-year-old left wing. The first five months of the season with the Bruins were filled with challenges.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the B’s were not a playoff-caliber team. Marchand is also in the final year of his contract, and he wasn’t able to work out an extension with the Bruins before the trade deadline.
“It was stressful in a lot of senses, just because some of them were situations I really hadn’t been in before, and I wouldn’t say I dealt with them great,” Marchand told reporters at Stanley Cup Final media day in Edmonton on Tuesday, per Sportsnet.
“The business side of it, I let it frustrate me, and then obviously our team wasn’t having the success we expected. And we were having a hard time getting back on track.
“Eventually we did, and we thought we were climbing back into a playoff position, and then we kind of fell apart. There were different hurdles that continued to get frustrating and stressful throughout the year.
“But that’s part of the game, and you’ve got to find ways to deal with it. Like I said, I wish I had done a better job at times, but something I can learn from.”
Marchand won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 — his first full season as an NHL player. He played on a lot of other great Bruins teams, including two that reached the Cup Final in 2013 and 2019, but Boston lost both series.
Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn ImagesNow that he’s back in the Cup Final for the fourth time — with Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers set for Wednesday — he’s making sure he appreciates the opportunity in front of him, because you never know if it will ever come again.
“With the things that went on this year and how I ended up here — just so many things can happen that you don’t expect, and you never know when you’re going to have another opportunity like this,” Marchand told reporters at media day Tuesday, including Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.
“I’m just so grateful to be part of a group like this. And even if you take the finals out of it, just to be part of the group. It’s been an incredible experience, and one that I was little worried about, and didn’t know how I was going to come into the team, if I was going to be able to gel with everyone. I’m extremely grateful for it — and really, really excited about it.”
Marchand’s future is unknown. He is able to hit free agency for the first time in his career this summer. Overall, it’s a fairly weak free agent class, and Marchand could be one of the top players available if he hits the open market.
Marchand might not be a first-line player anymore, but this playoff run with the Panthers has proven that he still makes a tremendous impact on winning at the most important time of the year. He can score, defend, contribute to special teams, and his leadership is fantastic.
Marchand is, in many ways, the ideal final piece for a team that’s close to winning a championship and just needs a little more depth and experience.
The NHL will expand the use of Sony’s skeletal tracking Hawk-Eye technology under a multi-year tie-up that could impact how hockey games are officiated and the way they are viewed at home.
The deal makes Sony an official NHL technology partner, with connections ranging from the use of Sony cameras to the company’s Beyond Sports team helping the league recreate hockey games as animated visualizations in real time.
“When you look at the total partnership, the way we set it up, obviously it runs across Sony,” said David Lehanski, NHL executive vice president of business development and innovation. “So it canvases across their whole company in a way that’s going to affect everyone in our community.”
The NHL has used Sony technology for replay reviews specifically since 2015.
“The NHL were the first within the U.S. to do video review, and now that is used almost universally across global sports,” Hawk-Eye, Pulselive and Beyond Sports CEO Rufus Hack said. “We now have 1,500 people who work for our business globally, and actually having them delivering at a world-class level—and understanding what the pressure is of delivering some of these solutions in the heat of battle—is actually almost one of the most important things that we’ve learned from the NHL and early adopters in cricket and tennis that we’ve been able to port into other sports.”
The NFL will use Hawk-Eye for evaluating line-to-gain decisions starting this season, while European soccer leagues have leveraged similar tools for automated offsides and goal reviews. All 32 NHL arenas now have 60-frames-per-second optical tracking setups that follow 29 points on each player and three points on each stick.
Lehanski said the league is evaluating the potential use of tracking data to quickly weigh in on offsides infractions and goals, though the speed and physicality of hockey present unique challenges.
The same tracking data that would be used to assist those calls is already being deployed by teams as a player evaluation tool. Increasingly, it’s changing the way fans watch sports, too.
Early player tracking data has been used for kid-friendly animated broadcasts. With the added precision of limb and stick data, analysts such as P.K. Subban now don VR headsets to put themselves on virtual ice, with 360-degree views of the action.
Going forward, the NHL would like to give fans a similar opportunity. Digital recreations could live within web-based or video game environments that allow consumers to manipulate the perspective and even attempt to recreate on-ice feats. To do so, the league could tap additional Sony arms, such as its PlayStation platform, which includes VR functionality. Beyond Sports has already helped the NHL deliver feeds in Roblox, drawing more than one million unique visitors in the first month of that activation back in 2023.
“We think at Sony, we’ve got a really unique mix of capabilities,” Hack said. “We want to bring in the best of PlayStation, the best of Sony Music, Sony Pictures… so we can really help take the sports industry to a new level.”
Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
If the Philadelphia Flyers are still looking to trade up in the 2025 NHL Draft, they could potentially have more than one trade partner willing to strike a deal.
By now, we've all hypothesized and speculated on the rumors that the San Jose Sharks could move down from the No. 2 overall pick, and we know the Flyers were exploring trading up for a player like Cayden Lindstrom or Ivan Demidov in the 2024 draft.
Recently, it has been reported that the Utah Mammoth, holders of the fourth overall pick in 2025, could be open to trading their top draft selection for a young top-six forward that has proven himself at the NHL level.
"The Utah Mammoth are believed to be open to moving the fourth-overall pick," David Pagnotta of NHL Network and The Fourth Period reported Friday. "Some believe Utah GM Bill Armstrong will consider trading the pick for a young top-six, NHL-proven forward."
That's a cost that won't strike the Flyers lightly, but it is one they could easily pay if the price is right.
Tyson Foerster, coming off his second consecutive 20-goal season at the NHL level, has the 6-foot-2 frame that fits the bill for Utah and just signed a two-year contract extension with the Flyers that comes without trade protection and without a significant price tag.
The Flyers love Foerster, yes, but if trades were always one-sided, everyone would make them. Would Philadelphia prefer two years of Foerster to the fourth and sixth picks in the 2025 draft with the potential to land, say, Caleb Desnoyers and Porter Martone?
Another player who fits the bill, as mentioned almost ad nauseam, is Owen Tippett. At the age of 26, Tippett is a bit older than the 23-year-old Foerster, but he has some qualities that would make him equally appealing.
NHL Trade Rumors: Flyers Can Get Their Own 'Star' in Jason RobertsonIf the Philadelphia Flyers are truly looking to swing the big trade this offseason, they need not look further than the Dallas Stars, who might have a former 100-point winger hitting the NHL trade market in short order.
The former No. 10 overall pick possesses blazing speed and a menacing shot, but inconsistency and a lack of progression sometimes leave Flyers fans frustrated.
Still, Tippett has 20, 27, and 28-goal seasons under his belt, including his breakout 53-point campaign just a year ago. There's reason to believe the Flyers talisman can still become a 30-goal, 60-point player, and the Mammoth are ready to take the leap that the Flyers are not quite ready for yet.
Another item to consider: Tippett has finished each of the last three seasons with 115 hits or more, and his 115 hits this season placed fourth on the Flyers behind only Nick Seeler, Garnet Hathaway, and Scott Laughton. His game of speed, physicality, and power makes him a perfect fit for what Utah is trying to do.
Plus, Tippett will have a 10-team no-trade list come into effect in his contract next July, so the Flyers must quickly decide if the pacey sniper is staying in Philadelphia for the long haul.
And if Foerster or Tippett were hypothetically deemed insufficient on their own, the Flyers could always pony up the Oilers' first-round pick - 31st or 32nd - or a second-round pick to get the deal over the line.
The Flyers are looking to quickly accelerate the rebuild to start winning games, and with a lack of star power at the center and defense positions, acquiring the Mammoth's No. 4 pick in addition to their own No. 6 pick could open some possibilities previously thought to be impossible.
Now, the only question is, is the 2025 draft the stage the Flyers are looking for to execute this type of move?
The Toronto Maple Leafs could be after another coach to join their bench after associate coach Lane Lambert's departure.
Lambert, who joined Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube's staff last summer as an associate coach (the first of its kind in Toronto), headed the club's penalty kill. Toronto's PK finished the regular season at 77.9 percent, the 17th-best in the NHL.
He vacated his post last week to become head coach of the Seattle Kraken, leaving many to wonder whether the Maple Leafs would fill that spot again. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts, it sounds like they might be doing so.
"I believe Joe Sacco was told he will not stay as the head coach of the Boston Bruins," Friedman said. "I’m actually kind of wondering if he could end up in Toronto, in place of Lane Lambert. We’ll see. But I’m under the impression he was told he won’t be staying."
Sacco was named interim head coach of the Boston Bruins after Jim Montgomery was fired following an 8-9-3 start this past season. The club went 25-30-7 in the final 62 games of the season with a new head coach at the helm, while also trading key pieces in Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo at the trade deadline.
Tanev, Gourde Contracts And Deferred Money Provide A Blueprint For Maple Leafs To Re-Sign John TavaresJohn Tavares wants to stay in Toronto. The former Maple Leafs captain made that clear when speaking to reporters shortly after his team was eliminated in the second round at the hands of the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers. This desire, coupled with the Maple Leafs' cap constraints, begs the question: How can both sides find common ground? Reportedly, the Maple Leafs would welcome him back, but not at the hefty $11 million per season salary cap hit that came with his first contract in Toronto. Recent contracts signed by other players offer a compelling glimpse into potential solutions.
Sacco, who just finished his 11th season with the club, headed the team's penalty kill before being elevated to head coach. Boston had the seventh-best penalty kill last during the 2023-24 season, operating at 82.5 percent.
Before joining the Bruins in the summer of 2014, Sacco was an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres. Prior to that job, though, the 56-year-old spent four seasons as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche.
His record with Colorado through 294 games as head coach was 130-134-30.
Former Maple Leafs Defenseman Mark Giordano To Coach NHL Top Prospect Matthew SchaeferMark Giordano has been busy since last playing in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto's current coaching staff sees Berube at the helm, assistant coach Marc Savard manning the forward group and power play, and another assistant, Mike Van Ryn, leading the defense. Savard joined the organization last summer, while Van Ryn, who won the Stanley Cup with Berube on the St. Louis Blues, joined Toronto in the summer of 2023.
The Maple Leafs also have Curtis Sanford, who's been with the club since July 2022, as their goaltending coach.
It remains unknown whether Toronto will go ahead and fill this position once again. However, if Friedman thinks out loud about whether Sacco would fit in Toronto, it likely means the Maple Leafs are hunting for someone to fill Lambert's role.
Stay updated with the most interesting Maple Leafs stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.
This time last year the story of the Stanley Cup final between Florida and Edmonton was mostly about Connor McDavid, hockey’s generational talent, getting the chance to bring the Cup back to hockey’s generational home. And it almost went his way, after the Oilers overcame a three-game deficit to force a deciding Game 7. Instead, McDavid’s win came a little later. His series-winning goal against the US in February’s Four Nations Cup amid the febrile nationalism created by Donald Trump’s annexation threats and tariffs seemed to quiet the doubters about where hockey both belonged and who rightly owned its highest honours. But here we are again, on the eve of the final, with the Oilers back in Florida for the second season in a row – Game 1 is on Wednesday night – and with a team from that state contending for the Cup for the sixth straight year.
The easiest way to explain why the Tampa Bay Lightning (2020-22) and Florida Panthers (2023-25) have each reached the Stanley Cup final as Eastern Conference champions in three consecutive seasons is that, well, they have both been very good teams. You can point to some common elements between the two, like scoring depth, a certain level of tenacity and grit, elite Russian goaltending, and Carter Verhaeghe. But there has also been something less obvious or quantifiable about these teams. Some characteristic that they share, beyond the on-ice talent and performance. It may be Florida itself.
Related: Stuck on repeat: NHL’s playoff format keeps delivering déjà vu matchups
There’s the income tax rate, for one thing, in that there isn’t one. Given that, the common refrain goes, Florida teams have an inherent advantage when free agents are looking for a new place to play. Indeed, Panthers general manager Julien BriseBois confirmed it last summer, telling reporters that Florida’s “favourable tax situation” had helped entice players to sign. The Associated Press ran the numbers on Sam Reinhart’s new deal at $8.625m per year. In Florida, he will owe $3.15m in annual taxes – $1.1m less than if he lived in California, and $1.4m less than if he was in Toronto. Then again, there are no state income taxes in Tennessee, either, and Nashville finished third-last in the NHL last year. None in Texas, either. No Cups there recently. Nor in Washington. So, maybe there’s more to it – less bureaucratic and more geographic reasons, like the beach and the weather. Or it could be the vibe.
“Nothing in Florida is ever quite what it seems,” former Tampa Bay Tribune reporter Craig Pittman wrote in his book about the state, adding that “in Florida, the crimes tend to be weirder and the scams bigger.” Florida is where all the “nation’s unctuous elements tend to trickle down as if [it] were the grease trap under America’s George Foreman grill,” Kent Russell wrote in the New York Times. Both writers made those assessments in the summer of 2016. Since then, Florida has had quite the decade. And even for what was already America’s strangest state, it’s been an interesting few years. Much of that is due to Donald Trump’s ascension to the US presidency – twice – not in his original big-suited, big-dealing New York City tycoon form, but as something much weirder, angrier, and noticeably more sunkissed: that is, as a kind of alpha Florida Man.
Of course, all of that might have had little or nothing to do with hockey had it not been for Trump’s personal vendetta against Canada this year, all but vowing to annex it as the 51st state. Or if Wayne Gretzky wasn’t such a staunch Trump supporter – a fact that has made him persona non grata in the country he once led to Olympic gold. Or if Gary Bettman (and Gretzky) hadn’t been hanging out with Trump-nominated FBI director Kash Patel at Capitals games. Or if a Panthers minority owner hadn’t called a Toronto Maple Leafs supporter an “51st anti semite loser” on X last month. But all that stuff did happen, both setting and capturing the tone of the season, hounded at every turn by a Florida Man. To no small degree, it would make an Oilers win all the more satisfying for many Canadians.
Still, even if none of that off-ice stuff had happened, there is still undeniably a high level of that brash, unapologetic, and moderately crazed Florida attitude in the Panthers. They might not all be men from Florida, but they sure feel like Florida Men. It’s by sheer coincidence that the Panthers’ spirit animal is not the team’s namesake cat but is instead a rat. But let’s be honest, it fits with how many see the team (and not just because Brad “the rat” Marchand plays there now – that’s just fate). Because, as much as you might respect the rat’s hustle or its capacity to survive against long odds – as the Panthers did during their 2023 Cup run, sweeping the seemingly unbeatable Boston Bruins in the first round – most of the time you want them to go away for ever.
Yet, the life of a rat is also a story of a certain kind of success. It’s no easy feat to find your way when everyone hates you. Still harder to do it more than once. “Part of Florida’s appeal is that it’s the Land of a Thousand Chances, the place where people go who have screwed up elsewhere and need to start over,” Pittman wrote. He was thinking of guys like Carlo Ponzi, creator of the Ponzi scheme. But you could just as easily point to someone like Verhaeghe, who spent six years in the AHL and ECHL after being drafted before the Lightning and Panthers gave him a chance. Now he’s a two-time Cup winner.
Connor McDavid and the Oilers have a second chance in Florida now, too. Another opportunity to make the rats go away. Of course, that won’t be easy. The Panthers are relentlessly tenacious, with an aggressive offensive pinch. They’re gritty, some may even say dirty. And they’ve proven that they can scrape and scramble to the top. Just like the state they call home.