Three Biggest Storylines Heading into Anaheim Ducks Rookie Camp

Hockey is back, at long last, and the Anaheim Ducks will be holding their very brief 2026 rookie camp at the end of this week, followed by their participation in the 2026 Rookie Faceoff. The Rookie Faceoff will be hosted by the San Jose Sharks and feature six teams who will play a total of seven games. The Sharks and Ducks will be joined by rookies from the Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Utah Mammoth, and Vegas Golden Knights organizations.

The Ducks rookies will only be on the ice together on Friday at 10 am (open to the public, free of charge) before they’ll head to Northern California. They’ll play two games against rookies from the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at 1 pm PST and the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday at 3 pm PST.

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Rookie camp, along with training camp and preseason, will be compressed in 2026-27 and beyond, as the NHL shifts to an 84-game regular season schedule. Still, plenty of storylines remain as one evaluates the 13 forwards, 7 defensemen, and two goaltenders invited to the weekend-long rookie event ahead of a crucial 2026 training camp for the Anaheim Ducks.

Here are the three storylines that most stand out:

With the way the 2026 offseason played out for the Ducks (and will continue to play out), the Ducks will likely have to navigate a top-heavy depth chart and payroll as they attempt to advance into their true contending window. That means they’re going to have to rely on general manager Pat Verbeek signing useful veterans to bargain deals and young players to have significant impacts quickly.

Addressing the latter, the Ducks are going to have to enter the 2026-27 season with top-six forward Troy Terry on LTIR and having moved on from veteran forward Chris Kreider to fit in star forward Cutter Gauthier’s incoming AAV, leaving depth scoring a monumental question mark.

Anaheim’s top two prospects are Roger McQueen (10th overall in 2025) and Nikita Klepov (15th in ’26), and these camps could be an opportunity for either or both to make the Ducks’ opening night roster and begin contributing immediately.

McQueen’s ELC will kick in this season regardless of whether he plays with the San Diego Gulls or in Anaheim. He has an NHL-ready frame as well as NHL-ready skill and has developed pro habits while playing in the NCAA with Providence College in 2025-26. However, he hasn’t played much hockey (63 games between the WHL, NCAA, and AHL) in the last two calendar years, and despite a need at his position, inserting him into the NHL right away may ultimately hinder his offensive development, an area where his true potential lies and where he hasn’t had the freedom to explore of late.

When Klepov was drafted, Verbeek stated he may be on a “fast track” to the NHL. He was set to transition to the NCAA for the 2026-27 season, but the Ducks, instead, signed him to his ELC. He’ll now either play in the NHL or OHL this season. He led the OHL in scoring a year ago, so one may be inclined to believe he doesn’t have much to gain at that level anymore. However skilled, smart, and tenacious he is (and he is those things), he has some work to do to add to his 6-foot, 186-pound frame and learn how to translate what makes him a successful forward to the NHL level.

In the tier below McQueen and Klepov on the Ducks prospect rankings sits a trio of recently drafted Swedish forwards who are making the transition from the Swedish pro/junior hockey circuit to North America. Two are projected to play their first full seasons in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls, and one is expected to play in the OHL.

Lucas Pettersson (35th in ’24) and Herman Traff (91st in ’24) will play their D+3 seasons in the AHL after ending their 2025-26 campaigns by getting a taste of the level with the Gulls. They’ve each competed against men for the past two seasons and have developed pro-ready habits. Their next challenge will be to adjust to the size of the North American rinks and the stride-to-stride speed it produces.

As the Ducks transition to the next phase of their build, they’ll soon see the departures of another layer of veterans (Frank Vatrano, Mikael Granlund, Alex Killorn). Players like Pettersson and Traff will be counted on to hit the ground running in the next couple of years to stabilize the depth of the Ducks’ future forward group.

Marcus Nordmark (28th in ’26) is a supremely talented project winger the Ducks selected with their second first-round pick acquired from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Mason McTavish on draft night. His areas of improvement include effort and consistency, both aspects he can address in the OHL while getting acclimated to a new culture and play style.

Nordmark wasn’t able to participate on the ice during Ducks development camp in July due to injury, so it will be the first opportunity for many in the Ducks’ coaching staff, development staff, and front office to see him play in person.

The Ducks rookie camp will feature two of the organization’s six goaltenders currently in North America and the two projected to receive the majority of the starts for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL: Tomas Suchanek and Damian Clara.

Clara (21) has the higher upside of the two and is the goaltender the Ducks have invested the most in since drafting John Gibson in 2011. This will be his first full season in North America since the Ducks drafted him in the second round three years ago (60th in ’23). He spent the three seasons since playing in the SHL, Liiga, and HockeyAllsvenskan.

Clara made a name for himself representing his native Italy at the 2026 Olympic Games, and despite his squad failing to win a game, he kept the team in front of him within striking distance against some of the best hockey countries in the world.

His athleticism is off the charts, but he will need to refine the intricacies of angling and managing a fast game from within the blue paint.

Suchanek (23) had a strong rookie season in the AHL in 2023-24, but missed the entire 2024-25 season with an injury and struggled mightily in 2025-26, splitting the year between the AHL and ECHL.

Both Ville Husso and Laurent Brosssoit will see their contracts expire after the upcoming season, and it seems that thereafter, the backup role behind Lukas Dostal will be up for grabs. A good rookie camp, followed by a good training camp, can give either Clara or Suchanek the early edge in that particular position battle.

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