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Hockey is a business. Team owners and general managers are consistently trying to do what’s best for their team and make decisions that will give their franchise a higher chance of success in chasing the Stanley Cup. A huge part of this business is trades – players come and players go, and no team looks exactly the same from season to season.
In the 2024-25 season, the Anaheim Ducks made a handful of trades that aided them in finishing the season with a 35-37-10 record and a noticeable improvement in their game. This season, the Ducks traded away Urho Vaakanainen, Cam Fowler, and Brian Dumoulin. Let’s take a look at how these three performed with a change of scenery and a new team dynamic.
Urho Vaakanainen
Finnish defenseman Urho Vaakanainen played four partial seasons with the Ducks before being traded for Jacob Trouba in December 2024. With the Ducks, Vaakanainen played a total of 110 games, totaling a mere 19 points, but scoring his first NHL goal with the team. Vaakanainen headed to the New York Rangers, which ended up being a beneficial new environment to begin to improve his game. In his 46 games with the Rangers, he tallied 15 points (two goals, 13 assists), nearly matching his point total across multiple seasons with the Ducks. The Rangers were, notably, not performing to their usual standard throughout the season, making Vaakanainen’s performance all the more impressive.
Cam Fowler
Anaheim’s blockbuster trade of the season happened just days after Trouba was acquired, when they traded away their long-time defenseman Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues. The addition of Trouba created an excess of defensemen, and Fowler was the obvious choice to move as his performance had begun to slip in recent seasons. Fowler had played with the Ducks since the 2010-11 season and posted a career-high 48 points (10 goals, 38 assists) in the 2022-23 season. However, he was becoming noticeably unreliable in his role as he aged, often losing control of the puck and struggling to keep it in the zone. He finished the 2023-24 season with a minus-36 plus/minus and often found himself at the scene of the crime when the opposition scored. Fowler had once been a stellar young player, but his time in Anaheim was expiring.
A change of scenery was much needed for Fowler, and it turned out to be extremely positive for him. After joining the Blues, he began to show a noticeable improvement in his game, especially his offense. He ended the regular season having played 51 games with the Blues, where he totaled 36 points (27 goals, nine assists). His most notable game was, coincidentally, his 1,000th in the NHL. This milestone coincided with the Winter Classic, and Fowler showed up and showed out, scoring twice in the game. He became the first defenseman in league history to score twice in an outdoor game. Fowler continued to make an impact in St. Louis as they faced the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs – he posted 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in seven games. Clearly, a new environment and team dynamic improved his confidence and brought him back up to the level of play he was capable of.
Brian Dumoulin
The third defenseman to be traded away by the Ducks was Dumoulin, whose time in Anaheim was short-lived. Joining the team at the start of the 2024-25 season, he played just 61 games with the team before being moved to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline in exchange for Herman Traff and a 2025 conditional second-round pick. While playing for the Ducks, Dumoulin had a performance that was mediocre at best. He finished his time in Anaheim with just 16 points (two goals, 14 assists). With stronger defensemen like Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov in the lineup, a player like Dumoulin was just not needed. He played out the rest of the season with the Devils, notching six points (one goal, five assists) in 19 games and zero points in the playoffs.
While there was not a drastic improvement in Dumoulin’s performance from one team to the next, he did improve his offensive ability from scoring points in 26.2% of games to 31.6% of games. If the Devils continue to take a chance on Dumoulin continuing into the 2025-26 season, he may continue to show improvement and be a reliable member of their team.
There will likely be more trades to come as summer approaches and the offseason begins, and the Ducks will be a different team than they were in 2024-25. Will they find more success with a new coaching staff and some fresh faces? Will they finally begin a playoff chase? Only time will tell.
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On one hand, the careful management of his health inspires confidence that he’ll be ready to deliver highlight-reel performances when the games matter most. On the other hand, the lack of chemistry-building reps with JJ McCarthy raises questions about how quickly the offense can hit its stride. The Vikings are playing the long game, and that’s the right call. If Jefferson returns at 100% for Week 1, this moment of preseason adversity will feel like nothing more than a brief hiccup. If the injury lingers, however, it could magnify challenges for an offense that’s already adjusting to new leadership. For now, patience is the name of the game. Vikings fans should trust the organization to strike the balance between caution and urgency, as the ultimate goal remains deep postseason success with Jefferson as the team’s unstoppable playmaker.
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