IRVINE, Calif. – Each day is one step closer to the end of training camp and the start of the 2025-26 season for the Anaheim Ducks.
The roster has nearly been whittled down to the Opening Night line-up. One more key player needs to make his preseason debut in the preseason finale on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.
At this point, nearly everything and everybody is ready to go for the real deal.
“It’s always been like that,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said with a laugh about the dog days of camp. “Whether you’re looking at your watch or what day you wake up and when you start playing for keeps. I know that sometimes training camps can get long, but I still think we want to make sure that we’re getting something out of it, and I think that’s the excitement we want to build.”
“It’s going to be a lot of positivity around here going into game one, getting off to a (good) start is very important for us.”
Anaheim will drop the puck on the regular season next Thursday, Oct. 9, in Seattle.
Here are some news and notes leading into the final day of the preseason:
McTavish Ramping Up for Preseason Debut
Monday and Wednesday were game day morning skates, but the 22-year-old center got three full practices on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to get up to speed.
“I feel like you just kind of get better every day,” McTavish said. “I feel more comfortable in here, and it’s great to start skating with the guys again and have some time before the regular season here to get used to the systems and stuff. It’s been good.”
McTavish has been skating on the second line with Cutter Gauthier on left wing and Mikael Granlund on the right side. McTavish and Gauthier formed some chemistry midway through last season, and McTavish is amped about this free-agent right winger.
“Granny’s unreal,” McTavish said. “Sweet, sweet skill. Wants the puck and can handle it, can find you, can shoot. He pretty much does everything. Cutter obviously can fly, and he can rip the puck. Excited to play with those guys.”
Roster Trimmed; Defensive Corps Seemingly Set
The Ducks made their third set of roster cuts for this training camp on Thursday, and the roster looks to be just one forward and one goaltender away from the 23-man Opening Ning line-up.
Anaheim had called up forwards Nathan Gaucher and Yegor Sidorov and goaltender Calle Clang for some extra rookie forces for Wednesday’s game in San Jose, and all three were reassigned to San Diego Gulls training camp.
The headline of the cuts were the three defensemen sent down–Tristan Luneau, Tyson Hinds and Stian Solberg–which left Anaheim with a full complement of seven defensemen.
When asked if that set the defensive corps, with Ian Moore making the Ducks roster, Quenneville was noncommittal.
“Well, we’ll see. I know that we still got–there’s some time between now, and (Monday’s roster deadline),” Quenneville said on Friday. “We’ll see. Nothing’s etched in stone right now.”
In the most closely watched roster battle of training camp, Harvard grad Moore of the defensive derby, which came as a slight surprise based on preseason results.
Hinds seemed to have an inside track, especially following a standout game against San Jose on Monday. However, the Ducks opted for Moore, who did get a handful of NHL games under his belt at the end of last season.
The 23-year-old right-hander had played a good amount of rookie camp and training camp on his offside, and it seems that versatility proved more enticing.
“I had the opportunity to play both in college a little bit,” Moore said. “I have some experience on the left and, you know, when you’re out there with two righties, a lot of times you get mixed up. It doesn’t matter. So that can be a benefit, but strong side is nice as well… I’m pretty comfortable on both sides.”
Solberg clearly needed more AHL seasoning, and while Luneau looks darn near NHL-ready, he’ll be better served by playing bigger minutes with the Gulls than sitting in the Anaheim press box.
When it comes to the final spots among the Ducks forwards, the calculus did not change much with these most recent cuts, as the only forwards sent down to San Diego were already there after last weekend’s trimming.
There are still six players for five spots with really only one decision to make: What is the best path forward for top prospect Beckett Sennecke?
Based on Friday’s practice lines, Sam Colangelo, Ryan Poehling and Nikita Nesterenko look to be your Opening Night fourth line. After some competition that put last season’s efforts from Colangelo and Nesterenko in peril, they will likely make the Ducks roster.
The “fifth” line was veteran bruiser Ross Johnston, utility center Tim Washe and Sennecke. Johnston will be on the roster.
“I know what I bring and know what I don’t bring,” Johnston said. “I just have to work on what I don’t bring to work on all those facets of my game. Stay within myself and be a physical presence like I have the last few years.”
Similarly to the defenders, Washe, who played just two games with the Ducks last season after captaining Western Michigan to an NCAA championship, might be best served by being in San Diego and playing solid minutes. However, with Jansen Harkins on injured reserve for eight weeks, Washe’s skill set could be useful.
Washe is waiver exempt, meaning the Ducks are free to send him to and from the AHL without fear.
Which circles the conversation back to Sennecke.
The 19-year-old has definitely shown progress throughout training camp, and following a strong game in San Jose on Wednesday where he flashed his obvious skill on a slick wrister goal, it seems likely that Sennecke at the very least opens the season in Anaheim.
“I feel like I just keep getting better every game,” Sennecke said, “and you get more comfortable the more games you play, obviously, and I think that’s just kind of the trajectory I’m on.”
Sennecke can play up to nine NHL games before the first year of his entry-level contract officially kicks in, which then leaves the decision Anaheim has to make with Sennecke.
As a 19-year-old that has only played three seasons of junior hockey, he is not eligible to play in the AHL. He must either be sent back to OHL Oshawa or stick with the Ducks.
It’s possible that the Ducks opt to do what Seattle did with its once top prospect Shane Wright. In 2022, he played limited NHL games early in the season, and the Kraken exploited a loophole where if an NHL player is a healthy scratch in five consecutive games, he can be sent for a two-week conditioning stint in the AHL. The Kraken stretched out Wright enough to buy time until December’s World Junior Championships, where Wright played for Canada and was returned to his junior team after the tournament.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has kept the plans close to the vest, only alluding to the similar process the Ducks did with Leo Carlsson of limiting his game action in his rookie year, but Sennecke and the Ducks are in a different spot that wouldn’t allow the same exact plan.
At this point in Sennecke’s development, the more time he can spend in the NHL the better, even if he’s not totally ready for regular duty. This short camp alone with Quenneville’s staff has been beneficial.
“He’s just kind of looking at helping me with those little details in the game,” Sennecke said, “whether that’s kind of defensive habits, offensive habits, and he knows what he’s talking about, for sure, so you just keep your ears open when he’s talking.”
Final decisions will come on Monday.