Predicting the Geese' 2024-25 opening night time lineup

One other season of hockey is nearly upon us. Coaching camp for NHL groups begins this week as rosters take form forward of the common season. The Geese’ coaching camp begins on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 9 a.m. at Nice Park Ice in Irvine.

Anaheim‘s full array of firepower was restricted final season, principally as a consequence of accidents for a few of their key gamers. Alex Killorn, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry missed a mixed 94 video games whereas Leo Carlsson missed 20 video games as a consequence of quite a few accidents along with the video games that he was purposely scratched for whereas on a sport administration plan.

On the blue line, Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov missed time as a consequence of accidents, as did Jamie Drysdale earlier than he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Cutter Gauthier. Tristan Luneau, who broke camp with the Geese, missed all the second half of the season as a consequence of a staph an infection.

Well being would be the greatest issue for the Geese in 2024-25 and their opening night time lineup will look barely completely different than the lineup from their final game of the 2023-24 season and positively completely different from last season’s opening night lineup.

Forwards:

With everybody wholesome, the Geese have a whole lot of versatility of their ahead group. At the beginning of the 2023-24 season, Zegras performed on the wing as soon as Carlsson was within the lineup however shifted again to the center when McTavish acquired injured towards the tip of the season. The Geese might stack their top-6 by having Carlsson and McTavish down the center and Zegras on the left aspect of both of them.

Ryan Strome is one other ahead able to enjoying middle or wing, however primarily performed wing final season. If Zegras is within the top-6 as a winger, Strome would possible slot into the No. 3 middle spot. Cutter Gauthier is the X-factor. A middle throughout his collegiate profession, he was Carlsson’s left winger in his lone NHL sport so far.

Gauthier was again at middle through the current Rookie Faceoff Match and has repeatedly relayed that he is comfortable playing either position. He will likely be given each alternative to achieve an elevated function and which will come on the wing, maybe subsequent to Carlsson.

Having Zegras and Gauthier within the top-6 would relegate one in every of Killorn, Terry or Frank Vatrano to the third line. Within the fashionable period, it is not a lot a top-6 than a top-9 now as groups search for sources of offense all through their lineup.

Placing Vatrano––who scored 37 targets final season and led the crew in factors––on the third line will surely elevate a few eyebrows. However, maybe that permits him to offer extra offense enjoying in opposition to different groups’ third and fourth strains.

Terry completed the season on the third line, however having a $7,000,000-per-year participant on that line feels a bit misplaced. The identical could possibly be mentioned for Killorn, who’s being paid $6,250,000 per yr and has developed good chemistry with Carlsson.

Zegras on the third line with two complementary gamers like Strome and Robby Fabbri––who was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings this previous summer season and had 18 targets final season––might assist take a few of the offensive duty off the highest two strains with out sacrificing a whole lot of defensive acumen.

With the primary 9 ahead spots principally set, it would not depart many open for the taking. The fourth line middle spot is Isac Lundeström’s to lose after he was introduced again on a one-year deal. Brock McGinn, who underwent again surgical procedure this offseason, was a gradual defensive winger with robust forechecking capacity when he was accessible final season.

Brett Leason, who was additionally introduced again on a one-year deal, was the primary supply of secondary scoring from the bottom-6 final season and is able to shifting up and down the lineup. His capacity to play on the penalty kill additionally offers him an edge over others.

This configuration squeezes out Sam Colangelo, who skated in three video games for the Ducks final season after ending his collegiate profession. He scored his first NHL goal in his NHL debut and confirmed he’s able to sticking with the massive membership. A top-6 function within the AHL to begin 2024-25 would not be the worst situation, however he’ll get each likelihood to make the Geese out of coaching camp.

Others like Ross Johnston and offseason signing Jansen Harkins will likely be simpler to move by waivers if wanted. Whereas Johnston––who performed in 68 video games for Anaheim final season after being claimed off waivers––gives a component of physicality and toughness, his lack of offensive manufacturing would not warrant an everyday spot within the lineup.

Harkins is in an identical boat to McGinn the place he gives vitality and forechecking capacity, though he hasn’t been used a lot as a penalty killer in his NHL profession like McGinn.

Protection:

The order of those pairs would not matter as a lot because the precise pairs do. With this configuration, head coach Greg Cronin would be capable of deploy any of those pairs with confidence at any level of a sport. Buying Brian Dumoulin from the Seattle Kraken provides one other veteran presence to the blue line, taking a few of the stress off of Radko Gudas and Cam Fowler––who performed means too many minutes final season.

With the addition of Dumoulin, every pair can now have a veteran coupled with a teenager. Jackson LaCombe was at his greatest when paired with Gudas. The duo produced an anticipated targets share of just below fifty % in 341 minutes and 18 seconds of 5v5 time on ice (per Pure Stat Trick).

One other mixture that additionally carried out effectively––albeit in only a handful of video games––was LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov, with the 2 younger defensemen utilizing their skating and playmaking talents to kill performs in their very own zone earlier than transporting the puck into the offensive zone.

Although Olen Zellweger skated in simply 26 video games final season, he was paired with Fowler in all however a type of video games (Fowler missed one sport as a consequence of a facial laceration). Whereas they did have miscommunications at occasions, this pairing has the skating capacity to cowl a few of their errors and each gamers are able to enjoying on their off-side.

Mintyukov spent most of his rookie season paired with fellow countryman Ilya Lyubushkin. After Lyubushkin was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs proper earlier than the commerce deadline, Mintyukov break up time enjoying alongside LaCombe and Gudas earlier than his season ended prematurely as a consequence of a bone bruise.

Pairing the cell Mintyukov with Dumoulin, who remains to be astute defensively however would not fairly have the footspeed for sure defensive actions, would create a duo able to denying opponents the center of the ice and retrieving any dump-ins with relative ease.

Each Mintyukov and Zellweger look like appropriate companions for Dumoulin as each possess glorious mobility and have proven that they’ll accumulate the puck in their very own zone and shortly transition it up the ice both with their ft or an outlet move.

Whereas Dumoulin hasn’t performed his off-side very a lot throughout his NHL profession, he did so final season for the Kraken whereas paired with fellow lefty Ryker Evans. With Geese common supervisor Pat Verbeek stating his choice to get gamers like Zellweger again on their robust aspect, it is logical that Dumoulin and Fowler will likely be enjoying on their off-sides.

The odd man out on this occasion is Urho Vaakanainen, who set a career-high in video games performed (68) final season. The left-handed Finn formed a formidable pair with Gudas through the early phases of the 2023-24 season however discovered himself out and in of the lineup towards the tip of the season. His greatest likelihood at an everyday spot within the lineup could also be to beat out LaCombe or Zellweger in coaching camp.

The place does this depart Tristan Luneau? In an ideal world, he is starting the season within the AHL as one of many San Diego Gulls’ high defensemen. After a protracted layoff as a consequence of a staph an infection in January, he started skating once more in April and took part in the Soflo hockey summer league in August.

The current Rookie Faceoff Tournament in El Segundo was his first style of aggressive 5v5 play in nearly a yr and whereas he did not seem to have any bodily limitations, it was clear that a few of the processing parts had been nonetheless a bit rusty.

Goaltenders:

The best a part of this train. Barring damage, the Geese have already got their NHL goaltenders locked in. The order right here just isn’t essentially indicative of what is going to occur as soon as the common season begins with Verbeek stating that begins might come all the way down to which goaltender is performing higher all through the season.

John Gibson struggled on the finish of final season, shedding his final seven begins and permitting 4+ targets in his final eight appearances of the season. His targets saved above anticipated has improved in each passing season since 2021-22, however not by a considerable quantity. The protection in entrance of him hasn’t precisely achieved him any favors throughout that span. The addition of Dumoulin ought to assist with that.

Lukáš Dostál performed in probably the most video games of his professional profession (44) in 2023-24 and ended the season on a excessive notice with a 33-save efficiency in opposition to the (on the time) reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Dostál additionally had his first NHL shutout in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks on Mar. 21 and made 50+ saves on two events.

This previous summer season, he helped lead Czechia to a gold medal within the World Championships of their dwelling nation. He had a .939 SV% and 1.58 GAA in eight video games and shut out the opposition in three of these video games.

The workload might look comparable for Anaheim’s two goaltenders this upcoming season. Gibson appeared in 46 video games, the primary time he is appeared in lower than 40 video games performed for the reason that shortened 2020-21 season and the primary time in a full season since 2015-16. A lesser workload could possibly be what Gibson must regain type. An improved defensive corps will not damage both.

If Dostál is to be the following full-time starter for the Geese, having the ability to deal with beginning 40+ video games (he began 38 final season) would be the subsequent step in his improvement.

What does your Geese opening night time lineup appear like? Sound off in our Ducks forum.