The NHL’s offseason is now fully upon us, the draft is in the books, most significant trades have already occurred, and free agency has mostly shaken out. The NHL landscape for the 2025-26 season has become clearer.
Only a handful of NHL players remain on the unrestricted free agency market, and the focus has shifted to restricted free agency. Eleven players filed for salary arbitration last week, with meetings scheduled to be held between July 20 and Aug 4.
Among those 11 players were a pair of Anaheim Ducks: goaltender Lukas Dostal and defenseman Drew Helleson. The hope with any arbitration case in the NHL is to negotiate and agree upon a deal before having to enter the boardroom. Historically, when each side makes their arguments in those rooms, damaging effects on the relationship between the player and the team can ripple moving forward. Arbitration dates are best utilized when treated like deadlines to get a contract signed.
The only other RFA on the Ducks roster is center Mason McTavish, with Sam Colangelo, Judd Caulfield, Jan Mysak, Tim Washe, and Calle Clang also in the organization and needing new contracts.
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AFP Analytics has been fairly accurate when projecting both the length of contracts and the percentage of the cap for an individual deal. Analyzing their projections can be an interesting exercise when attempting to determine what these key pieces to the Ducks’ roster will ultimately sign for.
Lukas Dostal
AFP Analytics Projection: (Long Term) 4 Years, $5.2 million AAV
Dostal was the steadiest and most reliable player in the Ducks organization in 2024-25. The tandem between him and since-traded John Gibson made up potentially the best goaltending tandem in the NHL and were the largest contributors to the team’s 21-point increase in the standings last season.
Despite playing the most hockey in his career in the 12 months between the end of the 2023-24 season and the end of the 2024-25 season, he’s remained healthy, poised, and impactful between the pipes for Anaheim.
Dostal got off to a tremendous start with Gibson out for the first three weeks of the 2024-25 season, who was recovering from an emergency appendectomy. Dostal’s numbers wavered as the season drew longer, but arguments could be made that uncertainty around Gibson’s nagging injury issues last season threw Dostal out of rhythm.
He finished the season with 49 starts and appeared in 54 games. He posted a .903 SV%, stopped 10.28 goals above expected, and tallied his first career shutout.
The goaltending outlook will be significantly clearer for Anaheim heading into next season, with Dostal earning his way to the status of “obvious number one.” His signature knowledge of angles, ability to track pucks around screens, occasionally casual yet remarkable athleticism, and improving game-management skills can be trusted to give the Ducks a chance to win any game they step on the ice for.
Author’s Projection: 5 Years, $5.8 million AAV
Drew Helleson
AFP Analytics Projection: 1 Year, $874,125
Jackson LaCombe’s breakout was the pleasant surprise of the 2024-25 season for the Ducks blueline. A close second, however, was Drew Helleson’s steadying impact on the right side.
After a brief three-game cameo with the Ducks to end the 2022-23 season, spending the entirety of the 2023-24 season in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls, and playing the first 12 games of his 2024-25 campaign in the AHL, Helleson was recalled to the NHL halfway through November and never looked back.
In his rookie 2024-25 season, he played 56 games, averaged 16:21 TOI, scored 13 points (4-9=13), and averaged over a minute of ice time on the penalty kill.
Helleson doesn’t dazzle with any one skill, but is as reliable as they come for a 24-year-old defenseman. He uses his 6-foot-3 frame to establish body position in front of the net or when retrieving pucks, outlets are crisp and decisive, and he does well to funnel pucks to the net around screens and succeeds at finding teammates' sticks for deflections.
Defensively, after some mistakes. needed adjustments were made to the speed and skill of the NHL game vs the AHL game, but he displayed quality fundamentals from the start, including gap control, angling, and sealing at the defensive blueline.
Filing for arbitration was an interesting tactic from Helleson’s camp, but he may be searching for more security or salary heading into his sophomore NHL season. He can make a strong case should a hearing take place, so it would be surprising to see him signed for as little as the AFP projection.
Author’s Projection: 2 years, $1.4 million AAV
Mason McTavish
AFP Analytics Projection: (Long Term) 6 Years, $6.77 million AAV/(Short Term) 3 Years, $3.98 million AAV
McTavish is the only remaining first-round pick on the Ducks roster from Bob Murray’s era as general manager. Pat Verbeek has let Jacob Larsson, Sam Steel, Max Jones, and Isac Lundestrom walk to unrestricted free agency without qualifying offers, and he traded both Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers.
McTavish has always been the player in that group who seems to most epitomize what Verbeek values in his players, and Verbeek has stated he’s a big piece of the organization’s future.
McTavish’s per-game production has increased in each of his first three NHL seasons from .54 in his rookie season to .66 in 2023-24 to .68 in 2024-25, where he totaled 52 points (22-30=52) in 76 games. His 22 goals led the Ducks last season, and his 52 points placed him second on the team behind only Troy Terry (55 points).
He’d grown his 200-foot game considerably from year two to year three in the NHL, and his brand of high-motor, small-area battling has become increasingly more impactful. He’s at his best when inviting pressure and distributing to the open ice created by the attention he draws from defenders.
Coming off his ELC, he’s in a similar situation to Drysdale and Zegras two summers ago. Based on how those negotiations went, where disputes with both players lasted into training camp and may have led to subsequent injuries, agreeing to terms sooner rather than later would likely be preferred by both parties.
However, in these situations, Verbeek has tended to use every ounce of leverage he can in an attempt to get the player down to a desirable number. Based on comparable contracts given to players like Quinton Byfield last summer and William Eklund this summer, compounded with Verbeek’s penchant for bridge deals for young players, it would be surprising to see McTavish sign a contract over four years in length.
It would also be surprising to see his number come in at AFP’s projection on a short-term deal. Sending Zegras to Philadelphia highlighted the Ducks' commitment to McTavish as their second-line center behind Leo Carlsson, and in doing so, Verbeek surrendered some leverage.
Author’s Projection: 3 Years, $5.83 million AAV
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