Ducks could look to add veteran defenseman

The Anaheim Ducks continue to be one of the surprises of this NHL season.

A scorching-hot start gave way to a brutal slump that looked like it would knock the Ducks out of the playoff picture, but the young team led by stars like Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier has powered back of late.

A 7-3-0 run has Anaheim just one point back of Vegas for the Pacific Division lead, and now just one day before the NHL trade deadline, it’s time to see what general manager Pat Verbeek has up his sleeve to add some help.

One obvious area of need could be the defense, where another veteran could provide valuable minutes in support of Jackson Lacombe, Jacob Trouba, Olen Zellweger, Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period to discuss where Anaheim could add to its roster ahead of a playoff push.

Carter Hutton: I’m going to swing out West to a team that I find very interesting in the Anaheim Ducks. What do they do? Like sitting second in the Pacific Division right now in a weak division, they have a few pieces that, they could maybe move out like Trouba, Gudas, or do they hold on to guys? Like, where’s their direction at this trade deadline?

David Pagnotta: They’re looking to add… the D-core is also an area that they want to upgrade. And they’ve got some good pieces on that back end, young pieces, and they obviously have a pretty deep cover in terms of their prospect pool. I think they’re willing to utilize some of that in order to get immediate or future help. So they’re not just looking at bringing in young guys in their early-20’s. I think that’s, that’s a bit of an M-O for somebody north of the state in San Jose. But I think for Anaheim, if there’s an opportunity to add a young in his 20’s defenseman, they pursue it. If it’s late-20’s, maybe early -0’s veteran type piece, I think they would pursue that as well. I think there was some interest in [Oliver Ekman-Larsson]. I’m not sure where that went, and I don’t know if they’re one of the teams still knocking on that door. But there are a lot of different players that they’re kind of exploring out there in Anaheim, and it looks like they’ve got pieces that they’re willing to package up to bring something in.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…