After a 2025-26 season that saw the Anaheim Ducks finally put their elongated rebuild in the rearview mirror and qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season, they didn’t have quite the 2026 offseason they were hoping for. A historic offer sheet extended to franchise center Leo Carlsson by the Philadelphia Flyers placed the Ducks in an unexpected cap crunch, and now the team will be forced to heavily rely on an influx of youth if they’re to continue to take steps toward perennially contending for Stanley Cups.

However, in an offseason that saw the loss of several roster pieces, including the entire right side of their blueline (Jacob Trouba, John Carlson, Radko Gudas) and two young, talented pieces (Mason McTavish, Olen Zellweger), the Ducks’ prospect pool got exponentially deeper and more potent.

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With a core firmly in place and playing roles at the top of the lineup, the Ducks will need several of the next 20 names to gradually fill out the depth chart behind said core for the next few years to maximize and elongate their contending window.

Let’s take a look at some of the players with the best chance of breaking through and contributing in the future for the Anaheim Ducks, starting, in reverse order, with players ranked 16-20:

Author’s Note: To qualify for this list, players must be rookie-eligible in 2026-27. Unfortunately, that disqualifies Tristan Luneau from this particular exercise.

20. Emile Guite, 19, University of New Hampshire (NCAA)

W, 6-foot-2, 176 Pounds, 159th overall in 2025

Once a top junior prospect, Guite was a second-overall draft pick by Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the QMJHL and the league's Rookie of the Year in 2023-24; he struggled to produce in his second junior season, which led to his fall to the fifth round of the 2025 NHL Draft.

The Ducks took a late flier on him in 2025, and he bounced back in his D+1 season, scoring 65 points (32-33=65) in 59 regular season games, adding 14 (8-6=14) in 20 playoff games en route to a QMJHL championship, but went scoreless in four Memorial Cup games.

Guite has an NHL frame (which he’ll need to fill out) and finishing ability, but his subpar skating and play-driving may ultimately limit his NHL potential. He’ll head to the NCAA for his D+2 season to work on the holes in his game while playing on a team where he’ll project to assume a sizable scoring role.

NHL Arrival Projection: Doubtful

19. Yegor Sidorov, 22, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

W, 6-foot, 183 Pounds, 85th in ’22

Sidorov went undrafted the first year he was eligible, but exploded for 164 points (90-74=164) in 119 games over his next two WHL seasons for the Saskatoon Blades. He produced at a decent clip during his first AHL season for the San Diego Gulls in 2024-25 (.58 points/game), but took a significant step back in that regard during his second year, only managing .43 points/game in 68 contests.

He’s a highly skilled, puck-dominant, offensive winger, but his lack of a “B game” limits his upside and NHL projection. If he’s not scoring, Sidorov isn’t positively impacting play. He has one year remaining on his ELC, and he’ll need a lot to go right in the near future, including getting his production back on track and elevating it to an eyebrow-raising rate if he’s to get a shot at NHL games while in the Anaheim Ducks organization.

NHL Arrival Projection: Doubtful

18. Cruz Lucius, 22, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

W, 6-foot, 179 Pounds, 124th in ’22

Admittedly, this may be a “shiny new toy” case for me regarding the organization’s newest player. Anaheim acquired Lucius from the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this month in exchange for “future considerations” after a productive senior season at Arizona State University, where he scored 46 points (15-31=46) in 36 games.

The smart, playmaking winger with perimeter skill and a high defensive floor has his work cut out for him if he’s to eventually crack an NHL lineup, but he’s been productive at every level he’s played to this point in his career, including at the U18 level alongside current Ducks star Cutter Gauthier. He’ll need to improve his small-area battles, on and off puck, and develop a forechecking game, as he likely won’t be initially awarded a scoring role if/when he makes his way to the NHL. He’s likely to play the entirety of the 2026-27 season in the AHL.

NHL Arrival Projection: 2028-29

17. Herman Traff, 20, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

W, 6-foot-3, 216 Pounds, 91st in ’24

Traff was acquired from the New Jersey Devils at the 2025 trade deadline along with a second-round pick (Lasse Boelius) in exchange for defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Traff played the majority of the 2025-26 season in HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden’s second-tier professional league), where he tallied 41 points (23-18=41) in 51 games before making the late-season jump to North America to play three (scoreless) games with the Gulls in the AHL.

Traff’s NHL-ready traits are his heavy release, which can beat quality goaltenders from distance, and size, which he uses to bully pucks to interior ice. His skating is good for his frame, and he should be able to leverage it into a plus forechecking game on North American ice. He’s projected to play his first full season for the Gulls in 2026-27.

NHL Arrival Projection: 2027-28

16. Jayden Kurtz, 18, Chicago Steel (USHL)

RHD, 6-foot-3, 194 pounds, 45th in ’26

The Ducks drafted Kurtz out of the Minnesota high school hockey circuit with a pick acquired from the Buffalo Sabres, along with Anton Wahlberg, in exchange for young defenseman Olen Zellweger. It came as a bit of a surprise, as he was (and is) viewed as a long-term project with big-time upside, and given his skill set and background, the similarities to Jackson LaCombe in 2019 are uncanny, and that panned out pretty well for the Ducks.

Kurtz is raw, smart, mobile, and capable of progressing into a two-way force at the NHL level many years down the road. He’ll return to the Chicago Steel of the USHL in the upcoming season, where he played 16 games in 2025-26, looking to expand his tools and pace before heading to the University of Wisconsin in 2027-28.

NHL Arrival Projection: 2030-31

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