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.
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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?
Middle Six Center
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
Mikael Granlund
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.
Pius Suter
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.
Brock Nelson
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.
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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
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