Ducks activate Lukas Dostal off injured reserve

Dostal has missed the last nine games with an upper-body injury. He was originally considered to be day-to-day when the injury was first announced on November 26th, but it was later announced that his injury had a week-to-week timeline for return. The Ducks went 5-4-0 during his absence.

Dostal has been incredible so far this season when he’s been healthy, and he’s been a been a big part of the Ducks’ hot start. Through 17 games, he has an 11-5-1 record with a .904 save percentage and a 10 5v5 goals saved above expected, the latter stat being the seventh-highest in the league.

Dostal is in the first year of a five-year contract with a $6.5 million cap hit that he signed in the summer. The 2018 third-round pick is in his fifth NHL season with the Ducks, and his second season as the team’s starting goaltender.

With Dostal back, he will resume starting goaltender duties and Ville Husso will fall back to the role of backup goalie while Petr Mrazek recovers from a lower-body injury.

An interesting wrinkle to this situation is how much the Ducks will use Husso as a backup, as he’s played eight games since his recall from the AHL, meaning that two more games would require him to go through waivers. Husso was good but not great while Dostal was hurt with a 5-3-0 record, an .888 SV% and -1.16 5v5 GSAx.

The Ducks also announced that they’ve sent Vyacheslav Buteyets to their ECHL affiliate, the Tulsa Oilers, in a corresponding move. Buteyets only action was entering the third period of the Ducks’ 7-0 loss to the Utah Mammoth in relief of Husso, where he allowed three goals on 13 shots for a .769 save percentage and -0.95 5v5 GSAx. He also has a 1-2-0 record and .878 SV% in three AHL games, and a 4-3-0 record and a .924 SV% in seven games in the ECHL.

The Ducks currently sit in second in the Pacific Division with a 19-11-1 record. They will look to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. PST.