For the last 22 years (13 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 23rd annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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For full team breakdowns, projections, category-specific options, and a whole lot more, pick up a copy of the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide today! It will be updated all through the offseason and training camps, and is available now in the Dobber Shop.

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Gone: Trevor Zegras, Robby Fabbri, Brett Leason, Brock McGinn, Isac Lundestrom, Oliver Kylington, John Gibson

Incoming: Mikael Granlund, Chris Kreider, Ryan Poehling, Petr Mrazek

Impact of Changes: One of the biggest changes isn't a player, but behind the bench as Joel Quenneville was hired in place of Greg Cronin. From a strict on-ice perspective, Quenneville likes to push the pace offensively, so that should mean some more shots available to the skaters. On offence, Quenneville's top job is fixing the power play as the Ducks finished dead last by goals per minute with the man advantage in 2024-25. Just getting that close to league-average would be a huge boon to fantasy values.

Two of the players brought in this summer – Kreider and Granlund – should help with that power play. A healthy Kreider is still one of the best net-front power-play options in the league, and generating offence from the slot was an area where the Anaheim power play greatly struggled. Granlund is an excellent playmaker who should be able to feed the puck to players like Kreider or Cutter Gauthier. At the very least, Kreider gives the Anaheim power play a dimension they did not have, and Granlund can be viewed as a short-term replacement for Zegras' playmaking abilities.

Gibson being traded to Detroit means Anaheim's net belongs to Lukas Dostal on a full-time basis. Dostál made 49 starts last year and there is competition in Mrazek and Ville Husso, but if he plays well again and stays healthy, Dostál should crest the 50-start plateau.

The departure of a bunch of depth forwards should mean a full-time role for Sam Colangelo. He has 23 goals in 44 career AHL games and 11 goals in 35 career NHL games. He won't be a top-6 option, so there is no imminent fantasy breakout, but a regular third-line/second power play role combined with his 70 hits in 35 games gives us a sleeper candidate in banger leagues.

Ready for Full Time: Tristan Luneau

Most Ducks prospects have already graduated but Luneau looks like he'll be on the NHL roster in 2025-26. He has been wildly productive in the AHL at a young age (54 points in 65 games and is still just 21 years old) but looks to be the team's seventh defenceman. As a right-handed shot, he's going to be on the third pair when he dresses. Between Luneau, Olen Zellweger, and Pavel Mintyukov, there are a lot of young defencemen who need to play and not sit in the press box, so Anaheim may run 11 forwards and seven defencemen quite a bit this year. Luneau is set for a full-time roster spot, but there are a lot of options ahead of him, so barring a monster breakout performance, any real fantasy value will have to wait at least another year.

Fantasy Outlook: In 2024-25, Anaheim finished 20^th in the league by even strength goals per 60 minutes. That isn't great, but it was their best placement by that measure since 2017-18. Another similar jump at even strength could have them as a fringe top-10 offence and with young stars like Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and Jackson LaCombe a year older, there is no reason to think that offence doesn't improve again.

The big issue for their production is the power play. In 2024-25, McTavish led the team with 12 power-play points, which was tied for 141^st in the league. That is just not good enough for significant fantasy value improvements. If the Ducks can have a big PP improvement like what we saw from Ottawa or Columbus, then they are going to be great draft values. If the PP remains stagnant, their top options will be a bit better than last year thanks to a likely even-strength improvement, but none will truly reach the next level in fantasy value.

All this doesn't include improvements to their team defence. With the only real forward additions being Kreider and Granlund, and the blue line remaining as it was, any increased defensive impact will have to come through internal growth and coaching. Anaheim gave up the most shots against in the league last year, which is good for Dostál in some fantasy formats, but will invariably hurt his fantasy ratios.

There is a long way to go defensively. They gave up 32.3 shots per game in 2024-25. Improving that mark by 10% would still leave them in the bottom-10 of the league by shots against per game. There will be some improvement, and it will help Dostál, but this is going to be a multi-year process, not a one-year fix.

Fantasy Grade: B- (last year: C+)