NHL rookie camps, training camps, and preseason are mere weeks away, and the page will be turned on the seemingly endless offseason of 2024.
The Anaheim Ducks are in the midst of the NHL’s fourth-longest playoff drought (Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators), having missed the playoffs and been among the bottom ten teams of the NHL standings for six straight seasons.
NHL Awards Preview: What are the Odds of a Ducks Player Winning the 2025 Hart Trophy?
Like many teams at the bottom of the NHL standings in 2023-24, their goal for 2024-25 is to make significant strides toward contention and play more meaningful hockey later in the season.
To achieve that goal, several roster players, young and veteran, along with the coaching staff will have to raise some eyebrows, turn some heads, and possibly even emerge as NHL Awards candidates.
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Vezina Trophy
The Vezina is awarded annually to the NHL goaltender “adjudged to be the best at this position” for a given season.
According to BetMGM, the current favorites to win the Vezina are 2024 winner Connor Hellebuyck (+600), Igor Shesterkin (+600), and Jeremy Swayman (+600).
56 goaltenders are eligible for wagers, including Ducks netminders, Lukas Dostal and John Gibson. They are each considered the longest of long shots, sitting at +25000 with players like Sam Montembeault, Elvis Merzlikins, Joonas Korpisalo, and 18 others.
Where the Ducks Goaltending Outlook Ranks Among NHL Teams
The goaltenders typically nominated are among the league leaders in traditional statistical categories like save percentage, wins, and goals against average.
The Ducks aim to divide starts relatively evenly between Dostal and Gibson in 2024-25. In an unlikely scenario where either Ducks goaltender emerges as a true Vezina contender, a couple of events must have taken place; one of the goalies “wins” the net outright (or the other is injured), receiving the bulk of the starts and the Ducks stun the majority of the hockey world and make the playoffs.
Over the past six seasons, the Ducks have won the least amount of games (aside from the Seattle Kraken who entered the league in 2021-22) and have allowed the fourth-most goals in the NHL.
Ducks finalize 2024-25 coaching staff
Not only have they allowed the second-most shots per game (33.7) in that time, trailing only the Blackhawks (33.8), but the number of goals scored from odd-man rushes, seam passes, breakaways, layered screens, breakaways, tips,…