The five worst Anaheim Ducks moments from the 2025-26 season

For a hockey team located in Southern California, which had also endured years of irrelevancy throughout a rebuild, the Anaheim Ducks often found themselves in the spotlight during and after the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. While the Ducks may have overshot their presumed preseason expectations and provided a fan base with some needed enthusiasm for the future, the team was often in the hockey headlines for the wrong reasons. One of the most slept on NHL franchises morphed into one of the most controversial teams and had inadvertently injected themselves into the greater hockey lexicon.

The butcher knocked out captain Canada

The 2026 season paused in February for the Winter Olympics, and the hockey world was eager with anticipation after NHL players were absent from Olympic participation for years, due to disputes with the IIHF. During the quarterfinal round between Czechia and Canada, Radko Gudas, an alternate captain for Team Czechia and former captain of the Ducks, delivered a questionable hit to the captain of Team Canada, Sidney Crosby. While Czechia ultimately lost the game, Crosby did not skate during Canada's loss to Team USA in the gold medal game, making Gudas one of the most hated players in Canada for injuring Crosby.

Surprise addition never saw the ice

Sticking with the Olympic theme, Jackson LaCombe was a surprise addition to the Team USA roster for the Winter Olympics, catching most pundits who never watched a Ducks game off guard. LaCombe was the Seth Jones replacement, but never saw any game action during the Olympics, despite winning a gold medal with Team USA. The roster may have been stacked on the blue line, but after his showing in the first round of the 2026 playoffs and especially against Connor McDavid, LaCombe at least deserved a chance to prove why he was a worthy addition.

The butcher knocked out a captain, again

Gudas once again found himself drawing the ire of Canadian fans, after targeting another superstar captain, Auston Matthews. Unlike the questionable hit he delivered on Crosby during the Winter Olympics though, there was no denying Gudas' intentions with Matthews.

While Gudas answered the bell during the rematch at Honda Center, his decreased role on the ice and late season injury problems, coupled with the suspension, only accelerated his departure from Anaheim during the offseason.

Out in six

The Ducks may have shocked the hockey pundits with their first-round performance against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs, but the matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round was a entirely different hurdle. Gone was the open ice, porous defense, and questionable goaltending of the first round, which played to the Ducks' strengths. The Knights were a more structured team and surgical in their ability to counter the speed of the Ducks. The flaws the had plagued the Ducks all season, came to a head in a resounding 5-1 and series ending defeat in Game six.

The offer sheet

Despite bowing out in the second round, the Ducks should have entered the offseason with optimism for the future. However, the contract situations with many of the Ducks skaters, particularly Leo Carlsson, hung over the team like a dark cloud. When the Philadelphia Flyers tendered an offer sheet for Carlsson in July, the Ducks were once again thrown into the national spotlight and GM Pat Verbeek had to come to a reckoning with his tough negotiation tactics. While the Ducks ultimately matched the offer sheet, making Carlsson the second highest paid player in the NHL (for now), their cap situation is quite muddied from Verbeek's mishandling of the extension. The Ducks are not out of the woods yet though, as Cutter Gauthier has not signed an extension either and the days keep marching ever closer to the opening of training camp in September.

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