Ducks acquire Oliver Kylington to fill out defensive depth

ANAHEIM, Calif. – To fill out their NHL defensive corps for the rest of the season, the Anaheim Ducks have acquired left-hander Oliver Kylington from the New York Islanders for future considerations on Thursday night.

Kylington had just been moved from the Colorado Avalanche in a deal for Islanders forward Brock Nelson.

The Ducks were down to six NHL defensemen earlier in the day due to the trade of veteran Brian Dumoulin to the New Jersey Devils. Anaheim received a conditional 2025 second-round pick and 19-year-old Swedish prospect Herman Träff in that deal.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said the Dumoulin trade allowed “more opportunity for our young defensemen, who have proven they can play and succeed at the NHL level.” 

Verbeek’s statement pointed to an alleviation of the logjam on the left side of the defense to allow both 21-year-olds Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger to be in the line-up.

That meant to fill in the role of the extra seventh defensemen, Anaheim would either have to call up another young defenseman from San Diego to sit in the press box and not earn valuable playing time or trade for a veteran fill-in. Verbeek chose the latter option.

Kylington, the seventh-year defenseman, has played just 13 games for Colorado this season. The 27-year-old Swede has averaged just under 13 minutes per game with one goal, three assists and a minus-3 rating.

Kylington was on a one-year deal with the Avalanche this season. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

Kylington did not play the entire 2022-23 season and first half of the 2023-24 season with the Calgary Flames due to personal reasons.

This is now the second trade by Verbeek and the Ducks organization in the last two weeks with “future considerations” going the other way. Anaheim acquired goaltender Ville Husso from the Red Wings organization to play in AHL San Diego on Feb. 24.

The NHL trade deadline is Friday at noon Pacific Time.