Why are the Ducks looking to move Mason McTavish?
Despite the Anaheim Ducks being a team on the rise, are they willing to part with one of their young stars?
Forward Mason McTavish was once considered to be one of the top prospects in the Ducks system, and has been part of the young core that has taken the franchise from the depths of the NHL to its first playoff berth in eight years. However, there’s a chance that general manager Pat Verbeek might be willing to move on from the former Peterborough Pete.
What makes the possibility of trading McTavish a bit of a head-scratcher is that he signed a six-year contract last summer, with the deal carrying an AAV of $7 million through the 2030-31 campaign.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Matt Larkin to explain why the Ducks might be willing to trade McTavish.
David Pagnotta: I think it’s a combination of just seeing what the market is out there because a lot of young players’ names started popping around this season, and also to fill potentially some other holes on that roster. They poked around on Colton Parayko ahead of the trade deadline…We know that St. Louis is looking to get younger and augment their lineup quite a bit because we’re going to hear his name. We’re going to hear Binnington. We’re going to hear Thomas and Kairu and probably some others.
Does McTavish make sense in that regard? This season, misses camp to a degree. It kind of shows you how impactful training camp really is, especially for younger players. If you’re behind the eight ball, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to catch up…Didn’t really happen with him this season in terms of his capabilities. 17 goals, not bad…but this is a guy that was supposed to be 25, 30 goals this year and cracking 70 points.
So is it a one-off? Is this a scenario where the value is still there, but you can upgrade in other areas? We’ll see…It’s just a matter of what are the Ducks looking for?
With so much young talent [in Anaheim], up front especially, you can afford to make that type of move, whether it’s that specific one.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…