Ducks demote former second-round defenseman

Before the puck dropped in Sunday's matchup between the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings, the Ducks announced they had called up goaltender Alex Stalock and reassigned defenseman Jackson LaCombe to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. As mentioned in previous reporting, it was discovered that netminder John Gibson would be out of Sunday night’s game due to an illness and the Ducks would be reintroducing forward Troy Terry back into the lineup.

As the third-string goaltender in the organization, this will mark Stalock’s third call-up of the season, with the other two coming on Nov. 1st and Dec. 20th, respectively. Failing to play a game in either of those two transactions, Stalock has only played for the Gulls this season, carrying a 1-7-1 record through nine games, and also possessing a .894 SV%.

If Anaheim continues to maintain relatively good health between the pipes, Stalock could very well only play in the AHL this season for a struggling San Diego team. It would mark the first time Stalock has only suited up in the AHL for any given year since the 2011-12 season. Employed as a backup for the Chicago Blackhawks last year, Stalock has a career record of 70-65-20, with a .908 SV% primarily serving as a backup with the Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, and San Jose Sharks.

In LaCombe, it will mark his first demotion to the minor leagues over his young career, making his NHL debut last season after wrapping up his career with the University of Minnesota. LaCombe initially made his way to the Ducks organization after being selected by the team with the 39th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft.

It would be an understatement to say that LaCombe has struggled in his first full year in the NHL, only tallying four assists through 35 games this season. Playing in almost 20 minutes each night, LaCombe has managed a -22 rating, the worst on Anaheim’s roster. Furthermore, even in the more advanced metrics, LaCombe has produced a CorsiFor% of 38%, and an on-ice save percentage in all situations of 88.7%, which are simply not going to cut it at the NHL level.