ANAHEIM — The Ducks have signed prospect winger Herman Träff to a three-year entry-level contract, the team announced on Sunday.
Träff, 20, was part of the return for veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin from the New Jersey Devils. He was dealt along with a second-round pick, which the Ducks used to select Finnish defenseman Lasse Boelius. New Jersey originally selected Träff in the third round, 91st overall, of the 2024 entry draft.
At the time of the trade, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek described Träff as a “big kid who has some nice skill.”
“He plays with an edge and he’s a big kid, and I like that. He’s got an aggressive attitude when it comes to his physical game. Another piece that we can kind of look at to add to this team in the future,” Verbeek said at last March’s trade deadline.
The move accelerates the transition of Träff, a Swede who has been competing in the second-tier pro league Allsvenskan in his native country, to North America. He’ll now join the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League on an amateur tryout for the rest of the AHL season.
In Sweden, Träff posted 41 points in 51 games with Oskarshamn this year, a significant leap from his totals last season, which were split between the more competitive SHL, Allsvenskan and the Swedish junior national team.
At 6-foot-3-inches and firmly over 200 pounds, Träff has fared well against senior competition overseas and will soon make his North American pro debut. His speed and skating technique are beyond those of most players his age and size, contributing to his reputation as a tenacious forechecker with a quick stick to recover pucks.
While his industriousness and physicality were the top lines on his scouting report a year ago, he had one of the most prolific goal-scoring seasons for a player 20 or younger in Allsvenskan history, and he led the league in power-play goals.
Decision-making and discipline were knocks on Träff, though he had fewer penalty minutes this season in 51 games than he accumulated in just nine contests at the Allsvenskan level last season.
Those developments make him more bankable as a fourth-liner, but his emergent offensive potential could mesh him nicely into a mix with players like center Ryan Poehling or possibly allow him to slot even higher in the lineup at times.