{"id":208189,"date":"2026-03-07T00:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/208189\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T00:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:43:08","slug":"anaheim-ducks-2026-trade-deadline-report-card-grading-gm-pat-verbeeks-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/208189\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim Ducks 2026 trade deadline report card: Grading GM Pat Verbeek\u2019s moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks\u2019 trade deadline moves<\/p>\n

In: John Carlson, Jeffrey Viel, 2027 seventh-round pick
Out: Ryan Strome, conditional 2026 or 2027 first-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick, 2027 third-round pick
Grade: A-<\/p>\n

The major play obviously is for Carlson, who is already on the short list of the franchise\u2019s biggest deadline acquisitions. The 36-year-old has been one of the best defensemen in the NHL not to win the Norris Trophy during his 17-year career with the Washington Capitals. This was a add by Ducks GM Pat Verbeek to reward a group that\u2019s played its way into possibly winning the Pacific Division and to upgrade its blue line for a potential first playoff appearance since 2018.<\/p>\n

A first-round pick might seem pricey, but Verbeek said he feels his team is now able to start taking its shot at the Western Conference\u2019s heavy hitters. If the Ducks are able to re-sign Carlson \u2014 which Verbeek said is a goal \u2014 that surrendered first-round pick won\u2019t be as painful. While letting go of Strome was a pure salary dump, the extra $5 million in cap space this summer only add more flexibility when it comes to re-signing the Ducks\u2019 army of restricted free agents. Star first-line forwards Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier top an important list. \u2013 Eric Stephens<\/p>\n

What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

Verbeek: \u201cFirst of all, you look at the player (Carlson) you\u2019re putting into the group. Certainly, it\u2019s a big add. It\u2019s a big add of a hockey player. They don\u2019t come along often. What we\u2019ve been doing the last three years with adding assets, I thought this was the time where we could \u2013 I looked at giving this group another extra push. Another little aid and helping us make this push to where we want to go. Ultimately, getting in the playoffs so we can have a nice run, I looked at it like it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s worth it to get this group experience. Give them a chance to make the playoffs and to do well in the playoffs. That\u2019s kind of how I looked at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What it means for the team\u2019s lineup<\/p>\n

The key is that Carlson can still play, as evident by his 46 points in 55 games, even though Jakob Chychrun had cut into his usual power-play time. He was still deployed as a No. 1 defenseman and he could slide onto the Ducks\u2019 top defensive pairing with Jackson LaCombe or direct the second pair, probably with Olen Zellweger, if coach Joel Quenneville prefers to keep Jacob Trouba with LaCombe.<\/p>\n

Carlson might need a little defensive sheltering from time to time but his offensive acumen and elite puck-moving skills from the right side could be a major asset, especially in triggering the Ducks\u2019 speedy forwards and helping improve the cycle game when they\u2019re in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n

With Mikael Granlund set to return soon from injury and Frank Vatrano back from shoulder surgery, that will solidify their top nine up front. Troy Terry is further away but his return will essentially also be a huge internal deadline addition. Strome had already been on the outs because he didn\u2019t fit with the Ducks\u2019 preferred set of physical grinders on their fourth line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.\u00a0 Anaheim Ducks\u2019 trade deadline moves In: John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164],"class_list":["post-208189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208189","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=208189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}