Anaheim Heads Into Camp With Its Thinnest Roster in Years

Kreider clearing waivers Thursday closed out a summer in which the Ducks shed McTavish, Zellweger, Kreider, and whatever veteran presence came with them. What's left is young, in some cases genuinely exciting, and notably short on the kind of reliable secondary scoring that keeps a lineup functional when the top line goes cold.

The timing matters. Troy Terry — 33 assists and 46 points last season, the team's best distributor — won't be ready for opening night after hip surgery in June. That's a lot of playmaking to replace, and right now the answer is mostly Carlsson and Gauthier carrying the load while AJ Greer, Sean Farrell, and Nikita Klepov fill out the depth. Those are fine pieces. They are not the same as having Terry.

The front office's logic is clear enough: bank the cap space, collect the picks, let the young core grow into the roster. Beckett Sennecke is another name to watch in that group. But the Ducks went 2-8 in their final 10 games last season while giving up 4.1 goals a night, and the roster entering camp is thinner than the one that stumbled through that stretch, not deeper. That's the practical reality of the offseason they just ran.