We’re back with another Anaheim Ducks prospect update. The team’s season has come to an end, but we still have some prospects with games left to play in 2021. Lukas Dostal and Andrew Poturalski led the San Diego Gulls in a tough week for the team. Artyom Galimov won Goal of the Season in the KHL for his spectacular effort back in February. Ethan Bowen had his season come to an end in the BCHL and finished in style with five points in his final three games. Welcome back to our series updating you on some of the Ducks’ top prospects and picks from the NHL Entry Draft.
Dostal & Poturalski Leading San Diego
It wasn’t a great start to the week for the Gulls as they dropped two games to their rivals, the Ontario Reign, losing 6-4 and 7-4 on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. They bounced back on Saturday with a decisive 4-1 victory over the Bakersfield Condors. Poturalski led the way for the Gulls with one goal and five assists for six points in three games played. He still leads the entire American Hockey League in scoring with nine goals and 31 assists for 40 points in 41 games played. Chase De Leo and Alex Limoges both had four points, with the former recording two goals and two assists and the latter amassing three goals and one assist.
Limoges extended his point streak to six games in which he has seven goals and two assists for nine points. He has an impressive 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in 20 games played. De Leo has exploded in the second half of the season. He had seven goals and six assists for 13 points in his first 17 games of the season and has seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in his last 17 games. Jacob Perreault and Benoit-Olivier Groulx also continued their strong seasons with three assists each last week. Kodie Curran and Hunter Drew led the way for Gulls’ blueliners with one goal and one assist each.
Dostal’s eight-game winning streak came to an end in the Gulls’ 6-4 loss to Ontario on May 5. He allowed five goals on 24 shots against in the defeat. It wasn’t all bad for Dostal, however, and he rebounded on Saturday stopping 38 of 39 shots against in the Gulls 4-1 victory over Bakersfield. He now has a 14-8-0 record with a 2.95 goals-against average (GAA) and a .916 save percentage (SV%). He’s tied for second in the league in wins, trailing only Stuart Skinner, who has 19. He ranks fifth among all goaltenders in SV% but ranks second among those who have played at least 20 games.
Dostal has faced the second-most shots against (764), with Skinner facing the most at 766, but he’s played seven more games than Dostal. Olle Eriksson Ek struggled, again allowing six goals on 38 shots against in the Gulls 7-4 loss against Ontario. He’s allowed at least five goals in each of his last three games. He’s lost six of his last seven games and now has a 7-6-1 record with a 3.00 GAA and .897 SV%.
Trevor Zegras ended the season strong with the Ducks, posting two goals and four assists for six points in seven games played since his transition to center ice. He scored a beautiful goal, as seen above, in the Ducks season finale which put his underrated shooting ability on full display. Speaking of Zegras, he will be back in San Diego for their final three games of the season and the AHL Pacific Division Playoffs which begin on May 18. He’ll be joined by Jamie Drysdale, Josh Mahura, Trevor Carrick, Vinni Lettieri, Simon Benoit, and Andrew Agozzino who were all sent down to the AHL.
Upcoming Games: May 12/14/15 vs. Colorado Eagles
Artyom Galimov wins KHL Goal of the Season
Galimov’s season came to an end a couple weeks ago, but he never fails to make the headlines. His spectacular goal from earlier this year that also won Goal of the Week and Goal of the Month has now been crowned Goal of the Season in the KHL.
He finished the KHL regular season with six goals and ten assists for 16 points in 41 games played. He ended the playoffs with two goals and five assists for seven points in 15 games.
Ian Moore Advances to Clark Cup Finals
The Chicago Steel won both of their opening games against Muskegon to win their best-of-three series and advance to the Clark Cup Finals. They will now face the Fargo Force in the final, who advanced as the fourth seed after two upsets. Moore had one assist, and two shots on goal in two games played last week. He now has two assists in four playoff games thus far. The finals is a best-of-five series that begins on May 14.
Upcoming Games: May 14/15/21/22/25 vs. Fargo
Brayden Tracey Struggles to Score
It wasn’t a great week for Brayden Tracey, who failed to register a point in all three games last week. He still managed to record ten shots on goal, but his season totals remain at eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 20 games played. There are only two games remaining in the WHL regular season, and with the playoffs being cancelled this season, it will be Tracey’s final two games of the season. He might re-join the San Diego Gulls after playing 12 games with them earlier this season.
Upcoming Games: May. 11 vs. Vancouver, May 12 vs. Kelowna
Ethan Bowen’s Season Comes to an End
The BCHL season came to an end as Bowen, and the Chilliwack Chiefs played the final three games of their season last week. He finished the season on a positive note, recording three goals and two assists for five points. He also finished with a six-game point streak in which he amassed five goals and four assists for nine points.
He led the Chiefs in scoring with 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 19 games played. He had 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points in 41 games played for the Chiefs during the 2019-20 season and is committed to the University of North Dakota for the 2021-22 season.
Thanks for checking out our latest prospects update of the 2020-21 season. Stay tuned for a fresh update on Ducks prospects from major junior, NCAA, Europe, and around the world.
In the meantime, if you want to hear my thoughts on the team’s prospects and current affairs, check out The Forever Mighty Podcast for all the latest Anaheim Ducks talk and analysis.