LaCombe Is Elite. The Ducks Still Have a Depth Problem That Could Swallow Him.

Jackson LaCombe's ranking as the 17th-best defenseman in the NHL is not a participation trophy. It is a credential, earned over a season in which he logged 24.4 minutes a night and put up 34 points from the blue line — and then kept playing when everything around him broke down. The recognition matters. So does the context: the Ducks finished 43-39, missed the playoffs, and allowed 4.1 goals per game over their final ten games. LaCombe was out there for most of that. The question for 2026-27 is not whether he is good enough. It is whether the roster around him is.

That late-season collapse deserves to be understood clearly, because it is the lens through which everything this offseason means. The Ducks spent most of 2025-26 winning close games at a rate that flattered their actual roster construction — 24 of 36 one-goal games went their way, a 67% clip that masked real structural fragility. When the margin for variance ran out, the defense gave up nearly a goal more per game than it had in the preceding month, and the offense went quiet simultaneously. Pavel Mintyukov was thrown into the breach, his ice time spiking roughly 30% over that final stretch as management scrambled to stabilize the back end. He absorbed the load. The results still deteriorated. That is what a thin defense looks like under pressure.

Now consider what the Ducks have done since. They moved Mason McTavish to St. Louis for draft capital. They shed Olen Zellweger to Buffalo. They lost John Carlson to Carolina. The front end of the rebuild — Leo Carlsson locked in at $18 million AAV, Gauthier emerging as a legitimate franchise cornerstone, LaCombe now formally recognized among the league's elite defensemen — is genuinely exciting. The back half of the roster is genuinely concerning. Troy Terry, who led the team in assists with 33 and finished second in points at 46, is currently out following hip surgery and faces a five-to-six-month recovery. He is not a depth piece. He is the connective tissue of the offense, and he will not be available when the season opens.

The additions — AJ Greer on a four-year deal, Sean Farrell acquired from the AHL, Nikita Klepov signed to an entry-level contract out of the OHL — represent a bet on upside and character rather than proven NHL production. My read is that this is the right philosophy for a franchise still assembling its foundation, but it is not without real cost. Klepov and Farrell are unknowns at this level. Greer brings Stanley Cup experience and physicality, which the locker room can use, but he is not replacing what Terry produces on a power play or in a close game in April. The Ducks are asking unproven players to fill a void that a healthy Terry barely covered.

Here is the narrow path to a good outcome in 2026-27: LaCombe and Mintyukov form a legitimate top pairing that holds together for a full season rather than collapsing under emergency workload. Carlsson and Gauthier — two players now formally recognized among the NHL's elite at their positions — produce at or above last season's pace. Terry returns by January in something close to his prior form. And at least one of the new additions, whether Klepov or Farrell, earns a regular role and delivers. That is a lot of things that have to go right simultaneously. What breaks the path is straightforward: another defensive collapse, a Terry recovery that drags into February or beyond, or Gauthier regressing from the finishing efficiency that made him dangerous — he converted just 5.3% of his chances over the final ten games last season, a reminder that his ceiling and his floor are not the same thing. The Ducks are building something real. LaCombe's ranking is proof of that. But proof of a foundation is not proof of a structure, and right now the walls are thin.