The Anaheim Ducks hadn't made the playoffs since 2018. Joel Quenneville returned to coaching after four years away. Cutter Gauthier scored 41 goals - the most by any Duck since Corey Perry in 2011. They eliminated the defending Western Conference champions in Round 1. They lost to Vegas in six. Fifteen players experienced playoff hockey for the first time. The core that ends the next drought is already in the building.
By Mike Holloway · June 2026 · 2025–26 Season Review Series · #7 of 32 · Playoff Teams · Second Round Exit · First Playoffs Since 2018
May 2025 · Quenneville Hired
Three-time Cup winner returns after four years away. Greg Cronin replaced. Pat Verbeek bets the Year One result on a new structure and a controversial but accomplished bench.
Oct–Apr · 26 Comeback Wins
Tied Montreal for the NHL lead in comeback wins. Gauthier's breakout. Dostal wins 30. The young core stops being a projection and starts being a team that competes every night.
R1 vs EDM · Eliminate the Favourites
Power play 8-for-16 (50%). Gauthier 4G-3A. Dostal excellent in net. The defending Western finalist sent home in six by the team nobody outside Orange County took seriously in October.
R2 vs VGK · 0-for-11 PP Kills It
No power-play goal in the first three games. Brett Howden short-handed in Game 6. Fell behind 2-0. Series over. The specific failure that ended a run nobody had priced in.
The Anaheim Ducks entered 2025-26 with 125-to-1 Cup odds, a preseason over-under of 84.5 points, a new coach in Joel Quenneville - returning to the NHL bench after four years away following the Chicago Blackhawks investigation - and a roster of young players who had never experienced a playoff game at any professional level. Cutter Gauthier scored 41 goals. Lukas Dostal won 30 games. They had 26 comeback wins, tied with Montreal for the most in the NHL. In the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they eliminated the Edmonton Oilers - the defending Western Conference champions, the team with Connor McDavid's 138-point season - in six games, with a power play that converted 50 percent of its opportunities. They then lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in six. Fifteen Anaheim players experienced the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their careers. The rebuild that looked like it might never arrive has arrived. This is what it looks like.
Gauthier 41 Goals. Dostal 30 Wins on a 5-Year Deal. LaCombe 48 Assists. McTavish Starting His 6-Year Contract. Carlsson on His ELC. Zellweger RFA. The Foundation Is Built.
Cutter Gauthier, 22, RW - 41G, 69 pts. 4G-8A in 11 playoff games. RFA this summer. The most goals by a Duck since Corey Perry in 2011 - fifteen years of franchise history, summarised.
Mason McTavish, 22, C - ~50 pts. Year 1 of a six-year deal. Scratched twice in Round 2. The individual development question the season leaves open.
Leo Carlsson, 21, C - Alternate captain. 8 pts in Round 1 (3G-5A) against Edmonton. Still on his entry-level deal. The long-term centre piece.
Jackson LaCombe, 23, D - 48 assists, team leader. Alternate captain. Eight-year extension begins next season. The power-play quarterback whose blue-line work was the decisive R1 tactical factor.
Lukas Dostal, 24, G - 30 wins, 3.10 GAA. Year 1 of a five-year deal. Excellent in the Edmonton series.
Olen Zellweger, 21, D - RFA. Offensive defenceman developing on schedule. Core long-term piece.
Every one of them is under long-term contract, under 24 years old, and already producing at playoff-competitive levels. The foundation is not a plan. It is here. The 2025-26 playoff run is the evidence that the wait produced what it was supposed to produce.
Joel Quenneville was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks in October 2021 following the release of the investigation into the 2010 sexual assault of a player by a team staffer, which found that Quenneville - among others - had been made aware of the situation and chose to proceed with the Stanley Cup run rather than address it. The findings were damning. The resignation was immediate. The conversation around his return to coaching was complicated and uncomfortable for many in the sport.
The NHL allowed him to return to coaching in October 2023 after completing the league's required conditions. Pat Verbeek hired him on May 8, 2025. His coaching record in Year One with Anaheim: 43-33-6, first playoff appearance since 2018, elimination of the defending Western Conference champions in Round 1. The result is a genuinely excellent coaching performance in any context. The context of his return - and what it represents for the player whose complaint was minimised in 2010 - is a separate conversation that predates and postdates the 2025-26 season. Both things coexist.
On the ice in 2025-26, his system produced 26 comeback wins (tied for the NHL lead), a team that competed every night, and a playoff run that gave his young players the experience that nothing else in hockey can replicate. His tactical adjustments in the Edmonton series - specifically the deployment of the power play unit that went 8-for-16 - were the difference between a first-round exit and the franchise's most celebrated playoff result in eight years.
8-for-16 Against Edmonton. 0-for-11 Across the First Three Games Against Vegas. Same Unit, Different Opponent, Two Different Seasons.
R1 context. Anaheim's 50% power-play conversion (8-for-16) against Edmonton is the tactical story of the series. Edmonton's penalty kill collapsed without Henrique and with Dickinson limited; Anaheim's unit - Gauthier on the right side, Carlsson in the middle, LaCombe at the blue line - exploited the gap mercilessly. Dostal's goaltending was the defensive anchor. The series win is the legitimate achievement it appears to be.
R2 context. 0-for-11 on the power play across the first three games against Vegas's defensive structure was the defining statistic of the second round. The same power play that went 50% against Edmonton failed completely against a team that kills penalties better than any team in the Western Conference. Gauthier (4G-8A in 11 playoff games) was outstanding throughout. McTavish was scratched twice in R2, which raised questions. Sennecke's two goals in Game 5 - a losing effort - showed the young players competing even when the series was over.
| Player | Pos | Line | Grade | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cutter Gauthier | RW | 41G · 69 pts · 4G-8A in playoffs (12 pts in 11 GP) · 22 years old · RFA this summer | A | The season's individual headline in Anaheim. Forty-one goals is the most by a Duck since Corey Perry in 2011. His RFA extension this summer is the franchise's most important transaction. Everything else is secondary to locking in a 41-goal 22-year-old at the correct price. |
| Lukas Dostal | G | 30W · 3.10 GAA · Year 1 of 5-yr deal · excellent in the Edmonton series · gave the team a chance every night | B+ | The 3.10 GAA reflects the defensive structure around him. Anaheim allowed 288 goals (more than they scored) and his job was to keep them competitive. His Edmonton-series performance was the most important individual goaltending of Anaheim's season, and it produced the franchise's first playoff series win in eight years. |
| Joel Quenneville | HC | 43-33-6 (92pts) · 26 comeback wins (tied NHL lead) · R1 upset of Edmonton · R2 in six | B+ | A team that went from 80 points to 92, eliminated the defending Western finalist in Round 1 with a tactical power-play deployment that was the decisive factor, and competed through six games against the team that reached the Stanley Cup Final. The context of his return is part of the complete story and belongs in any honest accounting. On the ice, his Year One result was the best possible outcome. |
| Leo Carlsson | C | Alt. captain at 21 · 8 pts in R1 vs Edmonton (3G-5A) · ELC · established as long-term centre | B | Eight points in six games against [Edmonton](/teams/edmonton-oilers) is legitimate postseason production from a 21-year-old playing his first playoff games. His alternate captaincy reflects the organisation's trust in his leadership beyond statistics. The ceiling is high. |
| Jackson LaCombe | D | 48A (team leader) · Alt. captain · 8-yr extension begins next season · PP quarterback | B | Leading the team in assists at 23 while playing as an alternate captain is the résumé of a player who has found his level years ahead of projections. His power-play work at the blue line - most visible in the Edmonton series - is the offensive activation the team needs from its defence. |
| Mason McTavish | C | ~50 pts · Year 1 of 6-yr deal · scratched twice in R2 · development trajectory on schedule | B- | A productive regular season and a contract that begins the long runway. The two R2 scratches are the individual development question the season leaves open. The grade reflects a strong regular season with the R2 context applied honestly. |
| Troy Terry | W | +11 (team leader) · 8 pts in R1 (3G-5A) · veteran anchor for the young core | B | The veteran piece the young core needed in their first playoff experience. His 8 points in the [Edmonton](/teams/edmonton-oilers) series were matched only by [Carlsson](/players/leo-carlsson). The team-leading +11 is the defensive contribution that doesn't appear in the scoresheet but explains how the Ducks could compete in 26 comeback situations. |
“"The intensity of the playoffs hasn't been too much for him, which is a good sign for his status as a core piece of the Ducks' lineup going forward."=CBS Sports on Cutter Gauthier after 4 goals and 8 assists in 11 playoff games - the assessment that applies to the entire Anaheim young core.”
The 0-for-11 power play in the first three games of the Vegas series is the specific failure that ended the run. The same unit that went 8-for-16 against Edmonton's broken penalty kill went 0-for-11 against a Vegas team whose penalty killing is the best in the Western Conference. Anaheim won all three regular-season matchups against Vegas for the first time in franchise history, but in five-on-five playoff hockey the Ducks couldn't generate the even-strength play their comeback-heavy regular season had produced. The Golden Knights, structured by Bruce Cassidy and experienced in exactly this kind of resilient defensive series, were the right opponent to expose the specific developmental ceiling the Ducks haven't crossed yet.
They will cross it. The core is too good, too young, and too committed to long-term contracts for the current trajectory to stall before it reaches a genuine conference final appearance. Gauthier's extension this summer locks in a 41-goal 22-year-old. LaCombe's eight-year deal begins. McTavish has five years left on his deal. Carlsson has years on his ELC. Dostal has four more years. The foundation that the rebuild was supposed to produce is here. The 2025-26 playoff run - eight years after the last one - was the first step on a path that has a long way still to go. The Anaheim Ducks are back. What they become next is the most interesting organisational story in the Western Conference.
[verdict:B+=92 Points. First Playoffs Since 2018. Eliminated the Defending Western Champions. 15 First-Time Playoff Players. 0-for-