ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Anaheim Ducks tidied up the last business in their defensive corps and went two-for-two in avoiding the team’s arbitration cases by signing defenseman Drew Helleson to a two-year, $2.2 million contract on Friday.
The 24-year-old right-handed shot will remain under Ducks control as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent once again when the contract expires in 2027. Helleson does not reach unrestricted free agent status until the summer of 2028.
Anaheim avoided its first arbitration case by locking up goaltender Lukáš Dostál to a five-year, $32.5 million contract on Thursday. League arbitration cases were set to begin on Sunday, July 20.
Helleson had a breakout season last year, where he locked down the right side of Anaheim’s third defensive pair after earning former coach Greg Cronin’s trust after his San Diego call-up.
Helleson led all NHL rookie defensemen in plus/minus and earned a fifth-place vote for the Calder Trophy, as the league’s top rookie. The former Boston College Eagle netted four goals and nine assists in the final year of his three-year, $950,000-per-season entry level contract.
The right-handed shot will have competition from ranks behind, as quick-rising, dynamic righty Tristan Luneau and stout righty Ian Moore, who made his NHL debut out of Harvard late last season, look to crack the NHL line-up. Based on current roster projections, one of those two are likely to be on the Ducks roster, with a healthy battle with Helleson (or possibly lefties Olen Zellweger or Pavel Mintyukov) for who is to be the sixth defenseman or healthy scratch each night.
The Ducks have three remaining RFAs to finalize contracts with: Mason McTavish, Sam Colangelo and Tim Washe. With the impending arbitration deadlines out of the way, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek can turn his attention to wrangling in McTavish.
In Verbeek’s recent history with the Ducks, he has had tight negotiations with Anaheim’s high profile RFAs.
Dostál and Helleson got done leading up to the start of arbitration, but Troy Terry got signed minutes before his arbitration case on Aug. 2, 2023. In that same summer, negotiations with Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, who did not have arbitration rights, went deep into training camp, with the pair signing on Oct. 2 and 5, respectively.
Colangelo and Washe should be quick work, but McTavish comes with a lot more chatter. As the team’s future No. 2 center who posted career highs last season in goals, assists and points and one of just two Ducks centers over 50% on face-offs, his value is considerably higher, and therefore, both sides will be bargaining hard to get what they want in a deal.
McTavish is four years away from being an unrestricted free agent, meaning he’d likely be looking for a four- or five-year contract at a minimum (possibly into the full seven- or eight-year range). Verbeek and the Ducks would probably like a little extra control, and Verbeek has been keen on bridge deals in the past, meaning he’d likely be looking for a three-year deal.
What’s unknown is where both sides are and how long that will take. On July 1, Verbeek said “we’ve got some time now to really get after it,” so we’ll see where that leads.