Anaheim Ducks Team Report
By Neil Becker
It’s been a quiet off-season for the re-building Anaheim Ducks.
Heading into training camp, the team will be without goaltender Ryan Miller who last season announced that he would be retiring. Miller, who spent the final four years of his career in Anaheim, finished his career with 391 wins and 289 losses along with 44 shutouts and a 2.64 GAA.
Also deciding to retire was forward David Backes who spent the past two seasons with Anaheim. Backes, who in his career also played for the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins, dressed for 21 games over his two years as a Duck, where he scored 3 goals along with 7 points.
In September the Ducks reached out and offered journey centreman Tobias Rieder a PTO for training camp. Rieder has played with the Arizona Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Oilers, Calgary Flames and last year the Buffalo Sabres.
Another off-season move was re-signing left winger Max Jones to a three-year contract worth $3.885 million. He is coming off a 7 goal and 11- point season.
Meanwhile, in early July Anaheim presented 29 -year-old centreman Sam Carrick a one-year, one-way contract extension. Last season he played in the AHL but did dress for 13 games with the Ducks where he totaled 2 goals and 6 points.
Anaheim also re-signed centreman Vinni Lettieri to a one-year two- way contract extension. He is coming off a solid campaign which saw him score 14 goals and 26 points in 22 games for the AHL’s Gulls. He also played in five games with the Ducks.
The Ducks also gave a one-year $925,000 contract extension to left winger Alexander Volkov who they acquired last March from the defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning.
Departing Anaheim was free agent centerman Andrew Poturalski who signed a one- year two-way contract with the Carolina Hurricanes and free agent forward Carter Rowney who agreed to a one-year contract worth $825,000 with the Detroit Red Wings.
Also departing was free agent forward Andrew Agozzino who inked a one-year two-way contract with the Ottawa Senators.
Meanwhile also leaving was unrestricted free agent centerman Chase De Leo who agreed to a one-year two-way contract with the New Jersey Devils.
Two other new faces at forward includes free agent Danny O’Regan who agreed to a two-way two-year contract and right winger Buddy Robinson who as a free agent left the Calgary Flames to sign a one-year two-way contract with Anaheim.
Re-signing with the club were centerman Isac Lundestrom and Sam Steel who both agreed on one- year two-way contracts along with left winger Max Comtois who re-signed for two years.
Long time Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf re-signed a one- year contract. He is coming off a season which saw him score 5 goals and 17 points in 48 games.
On defence, the Ducks have given 27- year-old Trevor Carrick to a one- year two- way contract extension. Also re-signing on the backend was Josh Mahura who last year played 13 games and registered 4 points with the Ducks.
Two other free agent defenceman who agreed to one-year two-way contracts were Greg Pateryn and Brogan Rafferty.
The Ducks have made some positive changes but will be in tough to make the playoffs.