Prospect Info: 2023-24 Ducks Prospects

[Hockey Duckie]

I guess the Ducks just ran out of contracts. They have 35 already, not counting the 10 RFA's. They only have 4 defensemen and 10 forwards on their NHL roster.

I'm still not sure why they signed Dionicio. They could have used that contract on Hvidston as well.

I don't think Dionicio is the one prospect being signed early I'd focus on, but Myatovic. Myatovic was drafted last season and Anaheim had an extra year on him to be signed. Myatovic missed over half his season this year due to injury and there wasn't any rush to sign him.

It's possible that Hvidston felt slighted that Myatovic got signed before he did, but it's rare for CHL players not to sign. Maybe our scouts love Hvidston, but Verbeek didn't? Maybe Hvidston was the youth that blew the horn on being forced to go to Florida during the summer and caused the Ducks to be shamed publicly?

 

[Hinterland]

I don't think Dionicio is the one prospect being signed early I'd focus on, but Myatovic. Myatovic was drafted last season and Anaheim had an extra year on him to be signed. Myatovic missed over half his season this year due to injury and there wasn't any rush to sign him.

It's possible that Hvidston felt slighted that Myatovic got signed before he did, but it's rare for CHL players not to sign. Maybe our scouts love Hvidston, but Verbeek didn't? Maybe Hvidston was the youth that blew the horn on being forced to go to Florida during the summer and caused the Ducks to be shamed publicly?

In that sense, Myatovic and Dionicio are very much in the same boat. Both could have been signed next year.

I'm not sure if Hvidston is guaranteed to get drafted again. He has been good for Swift Current but he was a 5th round pick who's two years older now. Unless something happened that caused him to not wanting to play for the Ducks he has no reason to reject a potential contract offer from the Ducks. He simply may not get another chance.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

In that sense, Myatovic and Dionicio are very much in the same boat. Both could have been signed next year.

I'm not sure if Hvidston is guaranteed to get drafted again. He has been good for Swift Current but he was a 5th round pick who's two years older now. Unless something happened that caused him to not wanting to play for the Ducks he has no reason to reject a potential contract offer from the Ducks. He simply may not get another chance.

I don't see why he won't get drafted? When he was drafted in the 5th round, he was just a shutdown forward. For the past two seasons, he's been scoring over a ppg. He probably would have had a higher scoring rate if not for injuries and an appendectomy surgery during this season. Before injuries started up, Hvidston had a 1.57 ppg scoring rate (6g + 5a = 11 pts in 7 games).

Hvidston is only 3 months older than Myatovic, but drafted a year earlier because of his early Sept birthdate that made him eligible for the 2022 draft. Hvidston and Myatovic are essentially the same age, though.

Hvidston
Year	Season	CHL	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-		G/GP	A/GP	Pts/GP
2021-22	D+0	WHL	58​	13​	19​	32​	-5​		0.22​	0.33​	0.55​
2022-23	D+1	WHL	59​	21​	44​	65​	15​		0.36​	0.75​	1.10​
2023-24	D+2	WHL	53​	27​	32​	59​	12​		0.51​	0.60​	1.11​

Myatovic
Year	Season	CHL	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-		G/GP	A/GP	Pts/GP
2020-21	D-2	WHL	12​	3​	0​	3​	1​		0.25​	0.00​	0.25​
2021-22	D-1	WHL	67​	4​	24​	28​	11​		0.06​	0.36​	0.42​
2022-23	D+0	WHL	68​	30​	30​	60​	43​		0.44​	0.44​	0.88​
2023-24	D+1	WHL	34​	9​	21​	30​	-8​		0.26​	0.62​	0.88​

If we view Hvidston's D+1 season as his D+0 season with respect to age, then Hvidston probably would have been taken in the 2nd/3rd round. Myatovic was taken 33rd overall.

What makes Hvidston's WHL career interesting is that his team sucked in his D+0 and D+1 season. It makes me like Hvidston a bit more that he can produce offensively on a bad team and still have a positive +/- rating growth. Myatovic's team sucked this season.

What is even more interesting, though a small sample is their AHL debuts.

Hvidston (2022-23): 7 games, 1g + 0a = 1 pt and +0 rating (none this year b/c his team made the playoffs)
Myatovic (2023-24): 12 games, 0g + 0a = 0 pts and -8 rating

Oh well. Maybe the Ducks can re-draft Hvidston with the late 2nd or one of their three 3rd round picks, but it seems unlikely the Ducks would do that.

 

[MMC]

I’m not gonna lose sleep over not signing a few guys that the front office who knows way more about these guys than I do doesn’t feel are worth signing to NHL contracts.

And I don’t get or agree with the notion at all that other prospects getting signed precluded us from signing the ones we didn’t in any way. If the team wanted to sign these guys they would have (unless the players didn’t want to, in which case there’s nothing we could have done)

 

[Static]

Saginaw wins in the dying seconds and dionicio is a memorial cup champ.

 

[GreatBear]

Good for Dionicio. Now, if he can just win the Stanley Cup with the Ducks I will be impressed.

 

[Static]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797479938674536740

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Is it possible Hvidston is the one who didn't want to sign? The players have some agency in this, right?

Very possible that him and his agent looked at our young forward depth and decided there would be more opportunity or less competition almost anywhere else.

Without even adding any AHL vets, we have arguably a bit too much AHL F prospect depth. When trying to construct a lineup, Hvidston may have been fighting for 4th line or to stay above the ECHL. Not every org is sitting on that type of depth.

There's a chance that 1-3 of these guys may end up in the NHL (with others cast aside in some fashion) but in no particular order you potentially have Myatovic, Gaucher, Colangelo, BOG, Lopina, Sidorov, Pitre, Wiebe, Caulfield, Mysak, Pastujov, Regenda, Nesterenko... McLaughlin likely let go as an RFA as possibly Tracey but they are currently in that mix for now. That's 15 young forwards under contract or RFA control, none of whom are necessarily guaranteed to be in the NHL. Of course you are likely bringing back De Leo and adding another vet or two as well. I left off Gauthier because I strongly suspect he's with the Ducks, but point being that we have a ton of F depth. Both sides may have looked at the situation and decided that Hvidston can land himself a better opportunity on a less crowded depth chart. Probably get drafted in the mid rounds again and will start from a bit less of a buried position on day one as a pro.

Based on how he looked in his AHL sample last year, I thought he was going to be a lock to be signed. Obviously something went awry there in the last few months.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

I realize that "Ducks didn't offer him a contract" sounds pretty cut and dry, but there's almost always more layers to it. Very possible that Hvidston's agent made it clear they would demand top 2 round type money to signify that the org values him above the glut of prospect depth, or else wouldn't be signing.

 

[Hinterland]

I realize that "Ducks didn't offer him a contract" sounds pretty cut and dry, but there's almost always more layers to it. Very possible that Hvidston's agent made it clear they would demand top 2 round type money to signify that the org values him above the glut of prospect depth, or else wouldn't be signing.

Y'all think he's a lock to get drafted again?

I think there's a chance but I'm not sure it's a given. He may not get another chance so it would be quite a dumb idea to risk a player's future because of a few dollars.

 

[tomd]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797479938674536740

Worth noting that Dionicio was named to the tournament all-star team on defense along with Mateychuk.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Y'all think he's a lock to get drafted again?

I think there's a chance but I'm not sure it's a given. He may not get another chance so it would be quite a dumb idea to risk a player's future because of a few dollars.

Maybe not a lock but I expect him to be. If I'm a team short on young F depth, I think a guy like him who can probably step right into your AHL bottom six, is a much smarter play than some longshot who may not be worth signing in two years. I still see upside there as well

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Y'all think he's a lock to get drafted again?

I think there's a chance but I'm not sure it's a given. He may not get another chance so it would be quite a dumb idea to risk a player's future because of a few dollars.

I don't think the money idea is a highly plausible one.

There are some factors that do pop up about not retaining Hvidston's rights when we look back. One of them was Myatovic getting the ELC offer before Hvidston. The other was Hvidston not sent to the AHL for a game or two after exiting the WHL playoffs. Weird too b/c Hvidston lead his team in scoring in the playoffs.

I'm having a difficult time finding the thread of the Ducks summer 3v3 hockey exhibitions in Florida to see if Hvidston was one of those players who participated in it. The Ducks were reported upon and were fined $50k for doing it. The player probably was someone who wasn't under an ELC. So there's that possible factor, considering how our Dir of Player Dev was anticipating working on Hvidston this summer in a recent article.

We'll probably never find out the reason.

 

[All Mighty]

Luneau update from Jim Johnson:

 

[All Mighty]

Interesting passages on Dionicio and Moore:

 

[All Mighty]

Will Francis update:

 

[tomd]

I hope Moore is favorably impressed enough with the Ducks organization to want to sign after senior year. Having Luneau, Warren, and Moore all hit on the right side would be incredible.

 

[Gliff]

I hope Moore is favorably impressed enough with the Ducks organization to want to sign after senior year. Having Luneau, Warren, and Moore all hit on the right side would be incredible.

I would be shocked if he signs.

 

[Masch78]

"So he's got a big off season in the summer to get to where we believe he can be, but he'll be a guy that we want to really concentrate on over the summer and make sure that he's doing all the right things. So he comes in and has a healthy start of the season."

That he said on May 29th on Hvidston. Super strange.

Luneau update from Jim Johnson:
View attachment 879525

Luneau is my fav D prospect of all. Well him and Minty. I have the same desire to see a Minty-Luneau pairing as I had back then when I thought Lindholm and Montour would be a match in heaven. Maybe this time it is

 

[KelVarnsen]

I would be shocked if he signs.

Agreed. Why would he? There's really no incentive to sign now when he can be a FA and pick where he wants to go.

 

[GreatBear]

Agreed. Why would he? There's really no incentive to sign now when he can be a FA and pick where he wants to go.

He would have the same benefit signing with the Ducks at the end of Harvard's season as any college player would have at the end of their respective season. The Ducks did early signings this year with Colangelo and Gauthier. The first year of his ELC would start to run immediately, taking him to restricted free agency a year earlier. If he does not sign with the Ducks, and does not cooperate like Thrun did when he didn't want to sign with the Ducks but allowed them to trade his rights to another team, he will have to wait until August 16 to sign.

 

[Hinterland]

Interesting passages on Dionicio and Moore:
View attachment 879531
View attachment 879532

I think Dionicio was committed to that regardless ever since he failed the physical ahead of his first WJC20. That and his arrival in NA were wakeup calls, Dionicio said. I don't think becoming a hockey pro, let alone in the NHL was ever on his mind much earlier. It was only when he was drafted into the OHL and picked for the WJC20 as a double underager (despite failing the physical) that he realized he's wasting his own talent. It obviously takes time but his fitness level has been trending upwards ever since.

It's also good to read about the Ducks helping him with decision making. That's definitely an area he needs help with. I hope they were addressing discipline as well

Btw:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797675355702202718

 

[cheesymc]

I think Dionicio was committed to that regardless ever since he failed the physical ahead of his first WJC20. That and his arrival in NA were wakeup calls, Dionicio said. I don't think becoming a hockey pro, let alone in the NHL was ever on his mind much earlier. It was only when he was drafted into the OHL and picked for the WJC20 as a double underager (despite failing the physical) that he realized he's wasting his own talent. It obviously takes time but his fitness level has been trending upwards ever since.

It's also good to read about the Ducks helping him with decision making. That's definitely an area he needs help with. I hope they were addressing discipline as well

Btw:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797675355702202718

It's pretty crazy that he went from around 200, to 220, down to 194? What was his body fat, near 25%? I'm guessing he will need to regain mass to play his physical style professionally but also hopefully keep improving his skating/feet.

 

[FiveTacos]

He would have the same benefit signing with the Ducks at the end of Harvard's season as any college player would have at the end of their respective season. The Ducks did early signings this year with Colangelo and Gauthier. The first year of his ELC would start to run immediately, taking him to restricted free agency a year earlier.

Yeah, it's why I really have no problem these days with an NCAA player going UFA. They're actually giving up potentially millions of dollars in career earnings by not burning an ELC year; even a guy who's only decent might end up making 1-2m+ on his 2nd deal, and he gets to start doing it a year younger if he gets that ELC burn.

Someone that willing to give that up must have good reasons. Also consider that on an ELC if he got buried in the minors behind a deep roster he could be making less than 100k instead of close to a million.

 

[Hinterland]

It's pretty crazy that he went from around 200, to 220, down to 194? What was his body fat, near 25%? I'm guessing he will need to regain mass to play his physical style professionally but also hopefully keep improving his skating/feet.

I have no idea but he was definitely out of shape when coming over to NA in 2021. He then changed both his diet and his workout routines so it's probably normal for his weight to go up and down.