Ducks get clarity on roster battles, power play in preseason finale loss to Kings

LOS ANGELES – Mercifully, the Anaheim Ducks preseason is over.

While the negative plays outnumber the positive plays from the last three games of the Ducks preseason slate–all losses, and the last two by a combined 16-2 scoreline–it should be quite easy to put in the rearview mirror next week.

“It's a preseason game,” Joel Quenneville said. “We tried a lot of things in the lines again tonight. So we got a week to prepare, and (figure out) the lineup, and then getting set and prepared to start the season on a positive note.”

What Anaheim can latch onto in the immediate future are the early results in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.

The Ducks’ fourth-line opened the scoring with impact from roster hopeful Nikita Nesterenko, and while the Kings’ leveled, Anaheim’s new look top power play unit played with tenacity and creativity for Beckett Sennecke’s fourth goal of the preseason.

They can also look to correct what came after with a slew of penalties and defensive lapses that let the Kings score five unanswered goals, including two power play markers. Part of the lapses can be chalked up to a young, unsettled and mixed up defensive group, but there are trends that need to be stemmed before it kicks off for real in Vegas next Friday.

“We got to fix our details and some habits, but I think we did some things well,” Jackson LaCombe said. “I thought it was good for us. It shows us what we can work on as a group.”

“You're obviously building habits that you're gonna take into the regular season,” Nesterenko said. “I mean, if you do things not the right way, and then that habit sticks, that's gonna translate, and it's gonna cost points later on during the season.”

Here are major takeaways from Saturday’s preseason finale:

Roster Battle: Bottom Six

With AJ Greer still out of the line-up (day-to-day, upper body injury) and Jeff Malott sitting on Saturday (under the weather), there was opportunity for one last impression for the hopefuls on the edge of the Ducks forward group.

Nico Myatovic played third-line left wing with Ryan Poheling and Frank Vatrano, and Nikita Nesterenko and Judd Caulfield got their shots on the fourth line wings around Tim Washe. Each of the three made a case.

Nesterenko and Caulfield had the most high-profile impact on the Ducks’ first goal. Washe chipped the puck low, and Caulfield’s forecheck won the battle for Anaheim on the boards. Washe fished the puck out and fed Nesterenko in the slot for a clean high finish, 1-0.

“Timmy made an all world play there to find me all in front,” Nesterenko said. “Saw the goalie down, and I just had to elevate it. Just putting pucks in, tiring out the D, that's what we have to bring consistently. There's guys on this team that are relied on to score every night, and you just have to know your role and just keep it simple and play the game the coaches want to play.”

Caulfield has surprised this preseason and earned his second assist, which paired with his physical play was a great effort put forth by the 6-foot-3, 220-pound 25-year-old. Caulfield has played the last three seasons with the AHL San Diego Gulls with a career-high 17 goals and 38 points last season.

Nesterenko is more familiar to Ducks watchers with 61 games played as a Duck, including 29 games last season. 

Myatovic’s candidacy was even more of a surprise than Caulfield’s, despite Myatovic’s pedigree in the organization as a second round pick in 2023. In his second full season in San Diego last year, the 21-year-old scored just seven goals with 12 assists in 71 games.

However, his speed and physicality has proven to be an asset in the preseason. Myatovic used his wheels to draw a penalty and hit the post on a breakaway in that sequence.

When Greer is healthy, there will be two spots for those three forwards, and each has a case to claiming a spot.

Roger McQueen and Sam Colangelo were scratches on Saturday, likely pointing to a start in San Diego.

Roster Battle: Defense Corps

If the Ducks’ blue line is not healthy entering the season, it may be a bigger area of concern than even previously thought.

With Ian Moore (lower-body, 1-3 more weeks) and Drew Helleson (lower body, targeting opening night) already out, Pavel Mintyukov (under the weather) was also not in the line-up on Saturday, which gave Anaheim a nearly full slate of defensive hopefuls to evaluate.

“We got some guys we get back there,” Quenneville said. “I think that you get a little clearer on how the lines are gonna start next week. So, but got a couple guys that come back, and a couple guys that might not be ready to start”

Jackson LaCombe and Nick Jensen are making the opening night line-up, and Tristan Luneau has performed as anticipated to earn his spot.

Beyond that, there are questions.

Tyson Hinds has been considered a lock, due to his cracking the roster late last season and in the playoffs, and after entering training camp nursing a lower-body injury, his preseason outings haven’t been his best. However, there are caveats.

First, it’s hard to blame anyone in particular for the 10-0 drubbing the Ducks prospects took against San Jose’s NHL roster on Thursday, but Hinds was a minus-4 in over 18 minutes of ice time.

On Saturday, the left-handed Hinds played most of the first two periods on his off side to the right of LaCombe on the top pair. Hinds moved back to the left of Luneau on the second pair. Hinds was on the ice for two goals and unable to tie up his man in front on a rebound and a tip-in.

Hinds is still likely in the roster, but Anaheim will need better from him, even in a third pairing capacity.

Stian Solberg has been fairly effective in his preseason outings. Heck, in that San Jose drubbing, he was the only Ducks player to escape without a minus on his ledger.

On the other hand, Solberg hasn’t gone above and beyond, and for the 2024 first-round pick, he must be earning playing time to stay in Anaheim. Otherwise, like Luneau before him, his best development path would be to stay in San Diego for that top-pairing ice time.

Travis Mitchell has been considerably fine. If he is in Anaheim, it is strictly as the extra defenseman sitting in the press box or emergency fill in. He has a few games of NHL experience with the New York Islanders and can play both sides.

Where Solberg and Mitchell land depends on the health of Anaheim’s blue line.

If Helleson is healthy for opening night, it’s likely Mitchell stays in Anaheim to be the seventh defenseman, and Solberg would go to San Diego to play. Once Helleson and Moore are healthy, Mitchell likely also heads to San Diego.

Powered-Up Power Play

Anaheim showcased a new top power play unit, and now that the roster is consolidated, that group is a fully armed and operational battle station.

“We're going to need our power play to be effective,” Quenneville said. “I think there's the quality of the possession and recognition and movement, its high end. We have a lot of things that can develop just by improvising on loose pucks and off of that they can materialize a lot of things. Entries should be all right, but I thought we had a good job. I don't think we even had a (bad) entry tonight.”

The Ducks ran out their best players on their best unit. Jackson LaCombe ran the point with Leo Carlsson on the high left flank and Cutter Gauthier on the high right flank. Beckett Sennecke was down low on the left and Mikael Granlund was down low on the right.

However, the key wasn’t the positioning but the movement. It was not stagnant in the same way Ducks power play units past can bog themselves down. There was movement in and out and from board to board, as Anaheim battled for puck retrievals.

“I think commitment to detail from all of us,” LaCombe said. “Just go into the right spots, battling for pucks, things like that, getting more shots. I think we got better at that towards the end of the year and we just kind of continue from there.

Eventually, Carlsson dug the puck off the left boards back to LaCombe, who dished to Gauthier on the right, who found Carlsson in the middle. Carlsson added one last flip to Sennecke, who was wide open in the left circle with time and space to zing a shot five hole.

Now, it’s a top-loaded group, but if it can perform at that kind of efficiency, it’ll be a boon for the Ducks hopes to return to the playoffs.