Pucks of a Feather
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Five Gulls That Should be Anaheim Ducks Next Season

By Greg Johnson

ANAHEIM, CA - DECEMBER 8: Kevin Roy #63 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrates his goal with his teammates in the first period of the game against the Minnesota Wild on December 8, 2017 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - DECEMBER 8: Kevin Roy #63 of the Anaheim Ducks celebrates his goal with his teammates in the first period of the game against the Minnesota Wild on December 8, 2017 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Anaheim Ducks
SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 18: Andy Welinski #73 of the Anaheim Ducks looks on in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round against the San Jose Sharks during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 18, 2018, in San Jose, California. (Photo by Scott Dinn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Forget about the goalies, Reto Berra is not going to overtake Ryan Miller as the backup. And he’s headed back to Europe to boot. Kevin Boyle is not NHL material yet.

The Ducks have five defensemen under contract for the 2018-19 season. And one of them is Korbinian Holzer. The others are Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, and Marcus Pettersson.

They will need to fill two blue line positions this off-season due to the departures of Francois Beauchemin and Kevin Bieksa. Expect Bob Murray to sign restricted free agent Brandon Montour before training camp starts. These defensemen have a good chance to be in Anaheim next season.

Andy Welinski

While Welinski ended the season with the Ducks, he hardly established a permanent roster position for himself. Welinski led the Gulls’ defensemen in points last season with 34 in 51 games. He is a good skater and puck mover. Welinski only needs to work on his defense. That’s a big ask, but there’s no time like next season for him to learn how to defend the best players in the world. He is a restricted free agent (RFA), so Murray will have to get him inked to a new deal before he can play.

Jacob Larsson

Ducks fans have to be excited at the prospect of having Larsson and Pettersson on a Swedish defensive pairing in the near future. They could certainly form a snake line with all those S’s in their last names.

Larsson is more of a defensive defenseman. He only scored 16 points in 50 games. But the 6’2″ defenseman has skill. He’s a little better than Welinski in his own end. Larsson spends most nights making smart plays. He enters 2018-19 with one year remaining on his entry-level contract.

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