{"id":121184,"date":"2026-01-05T20:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/121184\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:13:08","slug":"anaheim-ducks-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-mid-season-funk-vatrano-olympics-and-more-the-hockey-writers-anaheim-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/121184\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim Ducks Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Mid-Season Funk, Vatrano, Olympics and More – The Hockey Writers – Anaheim Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are the key storylines and upcoming schedule for the Anaheim Ducks for the week of Jan. 5\u201312, 2026.<\/p>\n

Playoff Positioning vs. Mid-Season Funk<\/p>\n

Despite currently sitting third in the Pacific Division (21-17-3, 45 points), the Ducks are in a precarious spot. They enter this week on a five-game losing streak<\/a>, having recently lost to the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Minnesota Wild. They are holding onto a playoff spot largely because division rivals, the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers, have also struggled, but this week\u2019s difficult East Coast road trip could be a defining moment for their season.<\/p>\n

Vatrano Out Long-Term<\/p>\n

A major storyline is the loss of Frank Vatrano, who suffered a fractured shoulder on Dec. 27 in a game against the Kings and is expected to miss approximately six weeks<\/a>. This is a significant hit to their forward depth.<\/p>\n

Buyers or Sellers? (Trade Rumors) <\/p>\n

With the trade deadline approaching later in the season, General Manager Pat Verbeek is reportedly weighing his options.<\/p>\n

Buying: Insiders like Elliotte Friedman have linked the Ducks to potential trade targets<\/a>, such as Edmonton\u2019s Andrew Mangiapane, suggesting Verbeek is looking to add a scoring winger to support the top six.<\/p>\n

Selling: Conversely, if the slide continues, pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) like Radko Gudas (Captain) and Jacob Trouba could become trade chips, though the team currently prefers to compete for a playoff berth.<\/p>\n

Olympic Nods & Rookie Stars<\/p>\n

Olympics: Several Ducks<\/a> were recently named to 2026 Olympic rosters, including Leo Carlsson (Sweden), Mikael Granlund (Finland), and Lukas Dostal and Radko Gudas (Czechia).<\/p>\n

Rookies: The youth movement is thriving despite the team\u2019s skid. Cutter Gauthier has exploded with 19 goals, and rookie Beckett Sennecke currently leads all NHL rookies with 13 goals in 31 games<\/a>, providing a bright spot for the future.<\/p>\n

Ducks Schedule Jan 5 \u2013 12<\/p>\n

DateTime (ET)Time (PT)OpponentVenueContextMon, Jan 57:00 PM4:00 PM@ Washington CapitalsCapital One ArenaStart of road trip; Caps are 8th in East.Tue, Jan 67:00 PM4:00 PM@ Philadelphia FlyersXfinity Mobile ArenaBack-to-back game; Cutter Gauthier returns to Philly.Thu, Jan 87:00 PM4:00 PM@ Carolina HurricanesLenovo CenterTough matchup vs. 2nd in East Hurricanes.Sat, Jan 107:00 PM4:00 PM@ Buffalo SabresKeyBank CenterFinal game of the week.<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are the key storylines and upcoming schedule for the Anaheim Ducks for the week of Jan. 5\u201312,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1718,17084,14932],"class_list":{"0":"post-121184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-cutter-gauthier","12":"tag-frank-vatrano","13":"tag-pat-verbeek"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}