Ducks Rookie Face Off – Ducks vs Avalanche – Sept 12 2026

Ducks Rookie Face Off San Jose, California

I missed some of the first period and rather than give a period by period recap I thought I would just try to give individual player reads and analysis. The Ducks were beat 7-2 by a vastly experienced Colorado squad made up of players with AHL experience and some recent draft selections as well as undrafted free agents with either pro or college reps. This was possibly the most inexperienced blue-line the Ducks have suited up at a Rookie Faceoff. Only Basgall and Smith had AHL experience with a combined 20 games between them.

Thoughts:

Cruz Lucius: For the first period at least – was by far and away the best Ducks player and looked the most NHL ready of any of them. Seemed to fade for the other two periods.

Roger McQueen: The other Duck player to stand out the most but was consistently a force for the entire game. Drawing penalties, attempting zone entries, setting plays and creating chances.

Nikita Klepov: Was everywhere but not as explosive as expected. Made some nice moves on the rush and passing plays, had more than a few looks and his shot does look as advertised.

Lucas Pettersson: Really showed up today. Night and day a different player from the one we saw as a Black Ace in San Diego in April. He was great in the dot, made some very dangerous passing plays and possibly one of the better play makers for the Ducks on the night.

Herman Traff: Appeared to take the announcers by surprise with his physical play but that seemed pretty much in the norm for him. Executed some nice reverse hits and generally used his big frame to create himself space in front of the net as well as to protect the puck. I am excited to see how he develops in the AHL this season.

Rian Chudzinski: Showed a lot of snarl and made himself a pain in the ass for a lot of the Avs defenders. Managed to get under the skin of even some of their veterans. Made a nice Corey Tropp power move in front of the net on the Power Play in the first period but didn’t finish. Was a bit of a liability in his own zone though which is concerning given his draft profile noted him as more of a two way forward. He made a very very nice individual effort in the third – taking the puck from his own blue line through several Avs players while also powering past defenders draped all over him before setting up Pettersson on a two on one chance in the slot.

Marcus Nordmark: Played a game similar to his draft write-ups concerns. Wasn’t immediately visible or evident for parts of it and then suddenly he would appear with a dangerous chance. Had some really good looks and showed some speed as well as nice confidence and skill on zone entries but as mentioned – wasn’t consistent. There were moments where I watched him and wished he would be with the Gulls this season and then other times decided that maybe yeah Juniors would be best for this season.

Mathis Preston: Worked hard and consistently drove the net with speed despite his size. Looks to be a very nice grab in the second round of the most recent draft. He was fearless which is contrary to what some of the knocks on his game were.

Ethan Procyzyn: Was the least noticeable on his line but did give me pause at times to ponder that perhaps I really have been too harsh in my initial assessments of leaving him off the Gulls this season. He has the speed and size to make the team but it is whether or not he can keep that up against pros on a week to week basis. There was one nice drive to the net where he beat his man wide, ran out of room so curled around and sent the puck back out front but it was picked off.

Noah Read: One of three on the “little energy guys” line – Read probably stood out the most. He had a lot of speed. Won puck chases and worked hard to create the Kosick goal with some good old fashioned fore-checking and cycling. He was another small guy that was fearless down low. I like his hustle. He has one year left in Juniors and I guess we see him in San Diego next season.

Noah Kosick: The other Noah on the “little energy guys” line. He worked well with his line-mates in creating the goal he scored in the middle period. He looked a much better quality player than the sixth round selection tag he has. One to watch in the future for sure.

Brady Turko: Another feature on the “little energy guys” line. At 6’1″ he was the tallest of the three by one inch. His speed was possibly his best asset and he used it well on the fore-check. He got absolutely rocked by a hit to the head coming through the neutral zone in the third period and did not return to action after that.

Matt Basgall: Predictably was the Ducks best defender out there. Did all the little things right. Kept it simple. Shifted the puck with expert timing and precision. Ran the first Power Play. I am so glad the Ducks brought him back.

Jayden Kurtz: Was the Ducks second best defender, we never got to see LaCombe or Moore at these rookie showcases but I was surprised at how solid his defensive game already is. For a guy who has seen a total of 16 games in the USHL he did not look out of place against largely professional and experienced competition. His early selection – which I slightly questioned at the time – may have been warranted as his development seems to be well ahead of where other project defender selections have been in the past.

Eric Frossard: Whoever got to be paired with Basgall was always going to enjoy the benefit of his play but Frossard really did look good in his own right. He used his long reach several times to cut off passes in front and had some good reads. Possibly what will impress coaches most is how he instantly challenged the Avs Gustav Stjernberg after his nasty and borderline illegal hit on Turko. He was fairly easily dispatched in the fight but it shows a lot of heart and team first mentality.

Alexis Mathieu: The other “tall stay at home defender” the Ducks selected in the same mold as Frossard – but selected a year prior. Mathieu played a largely mistake free game but was caught out of position or slow to react on some plays. Other than that I cant comment much.

Jimmy Rieber: With the cards stacked against him Rieber had some stand out moments for me. The Ducks last selection in this most recent draft was given the unenviable task of being paired with Konnor Smith. Despite that he made some very good reads to break up plays and caused some turnovers through the neutral zone by stepping up at just the right moment. He was left high and dry by his partner on at least one of the Avs goals but that was to be expected.

Konnor Smith: The Ducks worst player on the ice and individually responsible for one of the Colorado goals. He seemed to enjoy the crowd interaction and tried to hype them up after he was challenged to a fight to answer for the huge hit he laid in the neutral zone that directly lead to the Avalanche scoring seconds after. It really started to worry me that Dave Manson might favor him because of the physical game he plays. Please Dave please don’t.

Damian Clara: Played an OK game. He came out to challenge on some clear cut sure-goal plays and was largely only beaten by unstoppable goals where his defense had either left a man wide open or took themselves out of a play to make a big hit (see above Konnor Smith). He didn’t really make any highlight reel stops though.