{"id":7043,"date":"2026-05-16T22:31:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7043"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:31:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:31:27","slug":"ducks-autopsy-after-they-advanced-to-the-conference-semifinals-for-the-first-time-since-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7043","title":{"rendered":"Ducks autopsy after they advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

IRVINE \u2013\u2013 For the Ducks, 2025-26 was a season that simultaneously exceeded expectations and fell short of its potential.<\/p>\n

Read more Sparks hoping to run it back against Toronto Tempo<\/a><\/p>\n

They not only made the playoffs but advanced one round, only to be hectored off the ice and onto the golf course by the Vegas Golden Knights. That was the same team whose late-season surge coincided with a flummoxed finish for the Ducks to knock the flock off its perch atop the Pacific Division and relegate it to starting the playoffs on the road.<\/p>\n

All four teams that qualified from the Pacific would have missed the postseason outright in the Eastern Conference with the same point totals, and all were at least nine points shy of the third-place Minnesota Wild\u2019s output in the Central Division.<\/p>\n

Once the playoffs got going, the story was one of the inexperienced Ducks taking on seasoned adversaries. First it was the Edmonton Oilers, who had played 13 of a possible 16 series in the past four springs, and then the Vegas Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup in 2023.<\/p>\n

Yet in large measure, it was the youth brigade leading the charge for the Ducks while some of their veterans turned in tepid showings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young guys were the reason we made it to the playoffs and the young guys showed up in the playoffs and played really well. They scored big goals and made big plays,\u201d 32-year-old defenseman Jacob Trouba said. \u201cThat was the most encouraging thing, was that they got to that point and then they upped their games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the season, General Manager Pat Verbeek swung a trade for another distressed asset from the New York Rangers, winger Chris Kreider, who immediately became the Ducks\u2019 leader in career playoff goals. But apart from his goal and two assists in the clincher against Edmonton, Kreider had just one academic goal and four points in his other 11 games, spent predominantly on the top line and playing prominently on the power play.<\/p>\n

At the trade deadline, Verbeek sought to finally reward his group with a stretch-run addition and ostensibly plucked a gem from a market full of rhinestones with defenseman and 2018 Stanley Cup champ John Carlson. The former Washington Capitals mainstay came through with four assists against Edmonton but was held off the scoresheet in the final five matches of a six-game series against Vegas. He posted a -5 rating in the process, appearing torn and tattered by the time the Ducks were eliminated.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere were obviously ups and downs, but overall we were happy with their contributions,\u201d said Verbeek of the two vets. \u201cYou\u2019re always searching for that consistency and execution, but the reality is that it\u2019s a tough league and it\u2019s hard to do every single night, especially in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 22-year-old Cutter Gauthier, who was playing through two broken vertebrae in the postseason, and rookie of the year finalist Beckett Sennecke maintained and gained steam, respectively, across the two series, Leo Carlsson had eight of his 11 playoff points in Round 1 and a decidedly less impactful Round 2.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t bode well for the Ducks, who were trampled by a top-heavy Vegas roster\u2019s best players. Mitch Marner poured in 11 points and Pavel Doroveyev finished the series with five goals in three games, while Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore\u2019s two-way dominance was on full display.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way Eichel and Marner played when it meant the most was impressive. It\u2019s something I want to be able to do soon, too,\u201d Carlsson, 21, said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Both Carlsson and Gauthier are restricted free agents. That could tie Ducks fans\u2019 stomachs in knots, given their recent history with other lottery picks like Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, the latter two of which were dealt to Philadelphia in separate trades and all three of whom went through protracted negotiations that bled into October.<\/p>\n

Yet with Carlsson and Gauthier, the questions are less if they\u2019ll sign or where they\u2019ll end up ultimately, but when and for how much they will extend their deals.<\/p>\n

Read more FA Cup final: Man City triumphs over Chelsea on audacious Antoine Semenyo goal<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery winning team has core guys that lead the way, and that\u2019s something I want to become and want to embrace with this team,\u201d Gauthier said.<\/p>\n

The Ducks locked down two pieces of their nucleus last offseason with McTavish and goalie Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l, but both regressed noticeably this season.<\/p>\n

McTavish was a healthy scratch for two playoff games, though his performances leading up to them didn\u2019t seem as damning as the ones prior to his scratches during the season.<\/p>\n

After a torrid finish to last year saw him overtake the team goal-scoring lead, McTavish was positioned to excel with a much deeper forward group and more potent overall attack this time around. Instead, he scored 11 fewer points and five fewer goals while going from an even rating to -15.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, [next season] I want to have a way better year, for sure. That goes without saying,\u201d said McTavish, who added that he hoped to enter training camp lighter and quicker. \u201cI\u2019m gonna have to dissect what happened this year, plan it out and set my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dost\u00e1l went from saving more than 14 goals above expected last season, his first year as the No. 1 option, to 2.9 goals below expected during the regular season and a perturbing 5.6 goals below expected in the postseason, per MoneyPuck.<\/p>\n

Thanks to winning the starting job for Czechia at the Olympics and advancing one more round than Karel Vejmelka, his countryman and the main man for the Utah Mammoth, Dost\u00e1l played more total minutes than any other goalie in 2025-26. It was also the second of two consecutive condensed campaigns, thanks to the 2026 games in Milan and the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel overworked, I just feel like at some points I could have been a little bit sharper,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cI always like to do a lot of things, but maybe, sometimes, it\u2019s better to slow down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dost\u00e1l was also at the center of a troubling trend for the Ducks, as they fell behind to start over 60% of their games across the regular season and playoffs. They also allowed a goal on their opponent\u2019s first shot on net 14 times, including four instances across a dozen postseason contests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to have better starts, it\u2019s as simple as that, including me,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be more ready, more aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

On balance, however, there was much more to like than to loathe about the Ducks\u2019 effort. In 2022, Verbeek arrived to an organization in shambles with little in the way of leadership or standards. It had last made the playoffs in 2018, a year after its window of Stanley Cup contention was shuttered.<\/p>\n

In two years under Greg Cronin, whom captain Radko Gudas credited with much of the Ducks\u2019 necessary development and instillment of accountability, the team went from 58 points in Dallas Eakins\u2019 final season to 80 in 2024-25. Under Joel Quenneville, the NHL\u2019s No. 2 earner of career wins and playoff victories alike, they took yet another step, confronting two formidable foes under bright lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a better understanding now of how much more work they\u2019ve got to do and how much better they have to get,\u201d Verbeek said. \u201cAnd that, to me, is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Luka Doncic is the face of the Lakers, so how does that impact the offseason?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ducks made strides, and can see what kind of work remains to be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDucks autopsy after they advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2017 - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7043\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ducks autopsy after they advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2017 - 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