Anaheim Ducks After the Trade: Where Are They Now?

The Anaheim Ducks General Manager, Bob Murray, has made a handful of trades this season. Where are these players now, and who won these trades?

The trade deadline has come and gone for the 2018-19 NHL season. This season the Anaheim Ducks General Manager, turned Head Coach, Bob Murray, has made plenty of moves. Some have been good, some bad, some many fans liked, and some many fans didn’t like. Most of the trades that occurred this season were minor league deals so we’re only going to cover players who actually had time with the Ducks

How is Marcus Pettersson Doing in Pittsburgh?

One of the first trades Bob Murray made this season was on December 3rd, 2018. Bob Murray made a move that would see Anaheim acquire Daniel Sprong from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Marcus Pettersson. Many Ducks fans, myself included, saw this trade as a win.

Our farm system was loaded with even more younger defensemen, so losing Pettersson wasn’t an earth-shattering loss for the team. Since joining the Ducks, Sprong has been on and off with his scoring. He’s been more on the off side of the spectrum lately, but then again, so has the rest of the team.

Pettersson hasn’t seen too much success for the Penguins. He’s only amassed 13 points (2G, 11A) in 38 games. He’s also been in the box a lot as well, with 43 PIM’s. On the plus side, he did get to be apart of the Stadium Series game against the Philidelphia Flyers. He might also see more playoff action as the Penguins are in a Wild Card situation. Recently, Sprong has been seeing less ice time and more of the press box. So, for the moment, I have to say the Penguins win this trade.

Catching Up With Cogs

In January, we endured one of the worst and longest losing streaks in franchise history at 13 games. After a 3-4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on the road, Bob Murray finally had enough, put his foot down, and made a move. The following day, January 14th, he traded a fan favorite, sending shockwaves through the fanbase. Andrew Cogliano was sent to the Dallas Stars for Devin Shore.

Fans hated this trade because Cogliano was one of the hardest working players on the team and he literally never missed a game, earning himself the “Iron Man” nickname. I was okay with the trade since Cogliano wasn’t really scoring and being a fan favorite doesn’t win games.

Since joining the Stars he has only picked up 3 points (1G, 2A) in 17 games. That’s pretty much the standard for Cogliano so we didn’t lose too much. Cogliano, however, suffered an injury during the Stars vs Vegas game and actually had to miss a game. So now the iron man streak is actually over. We don’t acknowledge “the suspension”.

Devin Shore has been a nice addition to the team. He gets on the board when he wants too. He got his 2nd goal with the team in the 3-4 loss to the Blackhawks. He has 6 points (2G, 4A) in 18 games. This trade feels like a pretty even on. At least, so far.

Is Pontus Aberg Working Out for Minnesota?

The next trade was odd and a little unexpected. We originally picked up Pontus Aberg off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers early in the season. He went from a waiver pick up to a “rock star” seemingly overnight. At one point, he was even the team’s leading scorer. It is anyone’s guess as to what happened, but we can only assume that at some point Pontus got under Randy Carlyle‘s skin.

From that point on, he became a healthy scratch and Brian Gibbons took his place. Imagine scratching your leading scorer because you were in your feelings. After a 1-3 loss, Bob Murray busted another move. This time, he traded Pontus Aberg to the Minnesota Wild for Justin Kloos the day before the Anaheim Ducks actually played the Wild.

Since being traded to Minnesota Aberg has only managed 3 points (0G, 3A) in 10 games. Meanwhile, Justin Kloos only played one game before being sent down to the Gulls. Kloos has actually been really good for the Gulls being nearly a point per game player with 7 points (1G, 6A) in 8 games. He was doing well for Iowa Wild too before being traded, posting 30 points (12G, 18A) in 34 games. Maybe Bob was just bolstering up the Gulls for a strong Calder Cup run. This trade was should be considered a win for the Anaheim Ducks.

Goodbye, Blandisi… Hello, Elite 1 C!

Arguably the biggest trade of the season was the re-acquisition of Derek Grant. We traded Joseph Blandisi, who spent most of his season with the San Diego Gulls. Blandisi only played 3 games with the Ducks before heading down to the AHL. He performed really well with the Gulls putting up 23 points (8G, 15A) in 27 games.

He suffered a similar fate to Kloos, only playing one game with the Penguins before being relegated to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. There he has been pretty good, delivering 10 points (5G, 5A).

We originally let Derek Grant walk and Pittsburgh picked him up. He played 25 games for the Penguins getting 5 points (2G, 3A) in that span. He was also on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for a short time getting 4 points (3G, 1A) in 5 games. Of course, Bob Murray realized the error of his ways by reacquiring the Elite center.

Since his return, he’s put up 5 points (2G, 3A) in 16 games. He most recently assisted on Troy Terry‘s second career goal in the recent loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The “Elite one” was brought back a little too late in the season but he could serve well as a 3rd or 4th line center down the line.  Obviously, this trade is a major win because of Derek Grant but the Penguins gained a good player in Blandisi.

Does Anyone Remember Luke Schenn?

The same day as the Grant re-acquisition we also acquired Michael Del Zotto from the Vancouver Canucks for Luke Schenn and a 2020 7th round pick. Blink and you would’ve missed him. Del Zotto only played 12 games for Anaheim and got a lousy 3 assists. Luke Schenn only played in 8 games this season and he did not score any points.

Schenn was then dropped to the Gulls where he did something right and registered 10 points (2G, 8A) in 22 games. Schenn only saw 2 games with the Canucks before being sent down to the Utica Comets getting 5 points (1G, 4A) in 7 games. This trade was also even in the sense that we didn’t gain or lose anything except a 7th round pick in a draft that’s two years away.

This Trade Could be too Early to Call

Now, here’s the trade that broke hearts all throughout the fan base. Brandon Montour was traded to the Buffalo Sabres last week for Brendan Guhle and a 2019 1st round pick. I’m one of the people who didn’t like the trade because I felt we could’ve received more. However, everyone got that pick and the prospect they wanted.

The only difference here is that it was Montour who was traded instead of Jakob Silfverberg. He’s been on a noticeable decline, so it was easy for Bob to pick him out and trade him. Since heading to Buffalo he’s only played one game, no points yet.

The same can be said for Guhle as he’s only played two games with the Ducks. He could be sent down and help SD make a run for the Calder Cup. It’s also nice to have a secondary 1st round pick. The trade is a toss up so far. We’ll see a year from now.