Welcome back.
It’s time to kick off Daily Faceoff’s second annual NHL Prospect Pool Breakdown, looking at the best all 32 teams have to offer. We’re highlighting the top 10 prospects for every franchise, their biggest strengths and weaknesses and so much more.
The criteria for being labeled a “prospect” are simple: players generally have to have played in 50 or fewer NHL games or spent more time outside of the NHL than in it last year. Players over 23 years old are not included.
Today, we’re kicking off the new year by looking at the Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks might finally be on the come-up after years of drafting high.
After watching Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson LaCombe and Lukas Dostal become full-time NHLers two years ago, another pair – Cutter Gauthier and Olen Zellweger – also graduated out of prospect status in 2024-25. That’s an incredible amount of young talent in such a short amount of time, which helps to explain the growing pains associated with it.



