Martin Frk (29) shoots the puck in action against the Gulls. Credit Ontario Reign.
Following on from my end-of-season grades – it is now time to take a look to the next season and what the Ducks might do to improve the Gulls so that they can return to the kind of competitive team that made it as far as the Western Conference finals in 208-2019. Inspired by this piece by Eric Stephens at The Athletic – that focuses on potential trades. I will instead be looking at free agents in this article and will later look at undrafted players coming out of Juniors in a future piece. Welcome to the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist.
This shouldn’t be too surprising for anybody that watched the Gulls this season but end of year statistics confirm that they were horrible at putting the puck in the net. They finished third to last in the entire league. In fact – along with the Providence Bruins they were the only two teams in the bottoms six of the leagues scorers to still make the playoffs. Alex Limoges was their one lone 20 plus goal scorer with 23 on the year, where most teams had at least two or three on their roster. You could look at this one dimensionally and decide that they need more snipers but I don’t think that would entirely solve the problem. Those snipers can’t do it on their own and they often need a playmaking forward to complement them or one that can at least drive play. This is where I feel the Gulls were lacking this season. Andrew Poturalski stands out as a big loss from last year (and it couldn’t be more obvious given his massive season with Chicago this year) but Chase De Leo also left a huge hole in the offense (as well as going on to be the Comets leading scorer this year). Vinni Lettieri spending most of the year with the Ducks certainly didn’t help either while the full promotion of Sam Carrick – although not surprising and very well deserved; felt like it did not really have a contingency plan.
So the Gulls desperately need offense in the form of perhaps one more sniper but a good two or three play driving forwards to complement. Alex Limoges has already proved he can be counted on to hit twenty goals if not more, while Hunter Drew came close in his first full year as a forward. Jacob Perreault had the highest shot total on the team – he just needs a set-up man to feed him the puck.
A quick look over the league leaders in assists from last season give you.
Then we can start to pick and choose those that are left as potential free agent targets to add to our San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist
You might remember him from his days in Iowa with the Wild. Anas is in the final year of a two year deal worth 1.45m and perfectly fits the veteran scoring criteria at 29 years young. The Gulls are also pretty thin on Right Wing unless they plan to bring back Buddy Robinson. He lead the Thunderbirds in points this season and most of their scoring went through him with a whopping 44 assists in 75 games haul. He is on the expensive side for a minors base salary – getting 350k last season but that is also only 50k more than what the Ducks gave O’Regan last year. It is whether or not they want to commit that kind of money to a 29 year old – at this point – career AHLer.
At age 26 Seney is another that fits the veteran scorer criteria. He is at the end of a one year deal he signed with the Leafs and lead their AHL club in scoring with 59 points in 62 games last season. Again a lot of the Marlies scoring went through him – compiling 42 assists in 62 games. If the Gulls don’t bring back O’Regan he would be a fine replacement. He is getting 100k less than Anas at the minors level – so again the Gulls can and should be more than able to entice him with a pay rise if they were willing to.
Sikura is at the end of a one year deal he signed with Colorado and was making roughly the average amount that his previous two year deal did spread across its two seasons. He is 27 and lead the Eagles in assists last season with 40 but finished second to Kiefer Sherwood in scoring. At this point in his career he would likely prefer stability or an NHL shot – the Ducks and Gulls are in a better position to offer both over the stacked Avalanche. Could they entice him over?
This is a huge unlikely given I don’t know if he left the Ducks on bad terms but he has only gotten better and better since his departure. Hitting 16 points in 10 games for the Eagles last season and finishing as their top scorer with 75 points in 57 games this last year. He is criminally underpaid but has received some much deserved pay bumps since his initial two year deal with the Ducks. The Ducks/Gulls can more than easily afford to bring him back on something fair value for his production at the AHL level but again it depends on whether there is any interest there. If he were to go anywhere else other than Colorado it would likely be his hometown of Columbus or potentially Nashville to join his younger brother Kole.
The list goes on – with Anthony Greco, Stefan Noesen and Sheldon Rempal (more one these two next) following on from there as well as the aforementioned De Leo and the Heat’s Glen Gawdin. All are UFAs and all had 35 or more assists on the year last season.
If the Gulls were to add at least one veteran with a nose for putting the puck in the net they have a couple of options to add to the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist.
Noesen might feel he is finally on to a good thing with the Hurricanes/Wolves after bouncing around the league for the last few seasons but it isn’t beyond reason for the Ducks to tempt him back if the money was right. The one time Duck acquired in the Bobby Ryan trade finished first in the league in goals last year with 48 in 70 games and carried an 18.9% shooting percentage. He also lead the league in game winning goals – with a total of 13. He took a massive pay cut from his previous deal and shouldn’t have any trouble getting a hefty raise after the year he has had. After being picked up by the Devils on Waivers in 2016-17 he saw out the remainder of the year in the NHL before moving around the league and struggling to find a regular spot. This monster season feels like he is on the cusp of potentially earning a permanent spot on an NHL roster again – it’s just a matter of where.
This might feel like a long shot, or is it? John Hoven has mentioned on Twitter twice that he wouldn’t be surprised if Frk ended up with the Ducks – below is the most recent tweet; from the Kings end of season interviews.
The Czech born forward had the second most goals in the league with 40 and it felt like at least half of those were scored against the Gulls (Frk that guy). His two year deal with the Kings just ended and he is due a raise from the 1.45m deal he got at an absolute steal after he spent time in Detroit on a one year one way deal worth 1.05m that expired at the end of 2018-2019. Given Hovens insistence that he believes Frk will make the rare move of switching from one Southern Californian rival to the other it does appear that Frk is the obvious choice here. As deep as the Kings are it does make more sense for him to make the move now if he wants to spend more time in the NHL before the Ducks depth starts to catch up to that of their northern foes.
Longtime Colorado Eagle Sheldon Dries had a record year – hitting career highs in goals (35), assists (27) and points (62) after he signed a one year deal with the Canucks and became an important part of the inaugural Abbotsford veteran leadership. The undrafted former captain of Western Michigan took a pay cut on his deal with the Canucks and will be looking to cash in on his 30+ goal season. Given the Canucks commitment to putting a strong team together in Abbotsford it is pretty likely he gets re-inked there but again – perhaps the Ducks could swoop in and get him for the right price.
UPDATE: Dries has signed an extension with the Canucks.
The other Sheldon on the Canucks – Gulls fans probably know him best from his time with the Reign. Thirteen teams had 30 goal scorers and Abbotsford had two of them. Rempal had 33 goals and 36 assists for 69 (NICE) points in his first year in the green jersey. He is due a raise and might be the more affordable of the two veteran snipers in Abbotsford but may also require a decent amount of support to hit those totals again. I would be cautious in pursuing him but wouldn’t be averse to giving him a small raise to entice him over.
Additionally there are also Gabriel Dumont, Chris Terry, Cole Schneider, Charles Hudon and Zac Dalpe rounding out the list of 30 goal scorers last season. They range from veteran age to possibly too old but all are proven goal scorers and most are affordable.
This need isn’t quite as dire, the Gulls allowed 223 goals over the season which placed them 17th in the league – roughly middle of the pack. So that is to say they were not Barracuda (291 goals allowed yeesh) levels of bad but they could and should have been better given the level of goaltending and experience they had on the blueline. As of right now only Axel Andersson and Drew Helleson are under contract, leaving room for 4-6 other players to be recruited but that number likely falls to 2-3 given I cant see Trevor Carrick or Nik Brouillard going elsewhere. Brogran Rafferty wasn’t anywhere near as good as his last Utica season suggested he would be but he also shouldn’t cost too much to bring back. The Gulls do need someone to replace the likes of Kodie Curran and I’d also like to see another Chris Wideman type brought in – so ideally they should be on the lookout for a couple of veteran upgrades to add to the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist
Starting with high scoring defenders, Gross had a career year with the Eagles after spending his first three years with Tucson. He led the league in scoring by defenders and was eleventh overall among skaters. He sits as the massive positive outlier in Sean O’Briens point share by defensemen graph. At age 27 he has seen his salary rise along with his career numbers so it stands to reason he would be due at least another 50k bump but it will probably be a lot more than that. The Gulls could still afford him at his current salary but it depends how high the bidding war for his services go.
Prow finished third in scoring by defenders setting a career high in assists (39) in his fifth full season in the AHL. The 29 year old might see the Sabres as his best route to the NHL after a varied career thus far and seeing his first NHL game last season with the rebuilding club. His now expired one year deal is on average with what the Gulls pay their veteran d-men so they would likely need to up the stakes to entice him across to the west coast but he could potentially be had.
Clendening is a savy and serviceable right shot defender with a decent amount of real NHL experience behind him. His 42 points in 74 games saw him finish seventh overall in blue line scoring and second on the Phantoms. Among the many veterans that took a pay cut to get a job last season he is due a raise that likely brings him close to what he was on when with the Coyotes in 2017 – it might be a tad too steep but he would be a significant upgrade over Greg Pateryn.
Ouellet finished ninth in the league in scoring by defenders and at age 28 has nine seasons, 178 NHL and 527 AHL games of professional hockey under his belt. He had 41 points in 61 games as Captain of the Rocket, third on the team in scoring and second in assists with 33. His offensive point share has him the highest by any Laval defender with a slightly-below-one defensive point share. He is at the end of a two year deal that shouldn’t be too hard for the Ducks to match or raise but it is likely the Canadiens would like to keep him in the fold to mentor their young defensive corps coming through.
No he isn’t a Maple Sryup Bro – Connor is not a relation of Trevor and Sam but it would be pretty hilarious if he did join the Ducks and Gulls as the third Carrick. Carrick had 32 points in 59 games, 28th overall by defenders in scoring and second on the Checkers by scoring from the blueline so you are probably wondering why I have him on this list but his overall metrics translated well to Sean O’Briens offensive and defensive share tableau. He finished the year with a 2.782 offensive point share and a 1.705 defensive share to rate him with good company among the leagues better defenders. At 28 – he is well travelled and his expiring deal signed with the Kraken is worth 100k more than Trevor Carrick. The Kraken likely want to keep him around for the Firebirds in their inaugural season and to help mentor their defensive prospects coming through but he could potentially be coaxed to join the Carrick clan.
Keep in mind this list is composed entirely of UFAs – Joseph Duszak, Jack Rathbone, Daniil Miromanov, Ben Gleason and Jordan Spence also rate highly among the best defenders in the league but all are either under contract or are RFAs so unless the Ducks feel in an offer sheeting mood; they won’t be going anywhere without a trade being made.
I won’t go into too much detail here, the Gulls will be fine if Dostal is still the number one next season and by the sounds of it – the Ducks will be possibly bringing over recently acquired Calle Clang to bolster their depth. Which is great because given Eriksson Eks dismal season – I wouldn’t be confident with him spending extended time as the Gulls starter next year. That said – despite having both Eriksson Ek and Roman Durny under contract – the Gulls still had to sign and play Francis Marotte for eight games during a stretch in which both the Ducks and Gulls were besieged by injuries between the pipes.
It doesn’t hurt to have a proven – extra body waiting in reserve. Here are a two “maybe” options to add to the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist.
Charlie Lindgren will likely want starter money and minutes but would be a good tandem with Dostal, the Minnesota native took a massive pay cut on his most recent one year deal with St Louis and will likely be highly sought after by teams looking for a veteran to complement and mentor an up-and-coming goaltending prospect. At 28 he isn’t too old for a goaltender but has more than enough experience and consistently hovers around or over a 0.900 save percentage, including this years 0.925. He also rates well on Sean O’Briens tableau for Goals Save Above Average by minutes played and defensive environment with 0.635. He shared the net with youngster Joel Hofer – getting the minority of starts at 34 to his 39 and finished the year with a 24-7-1 record.
McIntyre had the lions share of the Wilds starts playing 40 games and posting a 21-15-3 record with a 0.919 SV% and 2.48 GAA. He played on an AHL deal last season which also included time in the KHL for Dinamo Riga before inking a one year deal with Minnesota this past season that paid him 250k at the minors level. With star goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt coming over to North America this coming season, it stands to reason McIntyre might want to look elsewhere for an equal share of minutes and to move on from the now crowded Wild backstop position.
The Gulls need scoring the most but not just in the form of more snipers. They need proven play drivers to complement and could also do with one or two extra bodies on defense to replace some of the likely outgoing former prospects that have surpassed their development peak. An additional veteran goaltender would be nice too. So there is a lot to think about for the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist. Either way – with so much change being made already since new Ducks GM Pat Verbeek took over; here is hoping for some more positive change coming in San Diego also.
The draft is next week, I will do my usual post-draft recap with my thoughts on the players selected.
I will also do another article that follows along the same lines as this one but will be aimed toward exploring players the Gulls could bring in as tryouts for the new seasons camp.
That was the San Diego Gulls 2022 Offseason Wishlist, please keep checking back here for more content!
You can read my 2021-2022 end of year grades here.
Or learn more on when prospects can play for the Ducks or Gulls here.
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