Insider - Ducks looking at trading multiple players before the deadline
The Anaheim Ducks are easily the most interesting story heading into this year's trade deadline. Last season the Ducks finished 30th overall and reaped the reward of drafting Mason MacTavish 3rd overall. This season the Ducks have been one of the biggest surprises, they currently sit 3rd overall in the Pacific Division and hold down the final Divisional playoff spot.
Today the Ducks announced the hiring of their new General Manager, Pat Verbeek. One of the most interesting narratives is that Verbeek has no relationship with any of the players on the Ducks team. That means that Verbeek has no loyalty or commitments to any play on the Ducks team and unlike Bob Murray he can take this team in whatever direction he'd like.
The Ducks currently have 7 players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. Ryan Getzlaf, Rikard Rakell, Nicolas Deslauriers, Sam Carrick, Buddy Robinson, Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm are all on expiring contracts.
Today while on the Jeff Marek Podcast, Insider Elliotte Friedman shared that the Ducks are working on multiple different avenues when it comes to their 3 key pieces (Rakell, Manson and Lindholm).
"You've got Rakell, I think he's the most likely of the 3 (along with Manson & Lindholm) to get traded, we'll see where it goes, but the no.1 question is Lindholm...Can you allow Lindholm to walk if you don't think you can sign him?
This year's trade deadline could prove to be the most crucial for the future for the Ducks as they're not considered a heavy favourite in the playoffs and will have the a lot of cap space to operate with going forward. The Ducks also have a very deep prospect pool that will allow them to continue to funnel talent into the organization, so any additional resources they could add for their expiring contracts would likely go a long way building what could be an exciting dynasty around players like Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras.
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