Through their first 13 games of the 2025-26 season, the Anaheim Ducks have turned their fair share of heads and raised their fair share of eyebrows. Their 9-3-1 record is good enough to sit them atop the Pacific Division standings, and their .731 points% is good enough for second in the NHL, behind only the Colorado Avalanche (.750).
The Ducks have scored the most goals (55) and most goals per game in the NHL (4.15), having hit the seven-goal mark in four of their 13 games thus far. Impressively, they have five players averaging a point per game or greater (Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Troy Terry, Chris Kreider, Mikael Granlund). More impressively, their roster players 21 years old or younger have accounted for 21 goals and 50 points, the highest such total from a team through their first 13 games in 33 years (Quebec Nordiques, 1992-93).
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The event that has grabbed, and will continue to grab, attention as it approaches is the 2026 Winter Olympics, set for Feb. 6-22 in Milan-Cortina, Italy. For the men’s hockey tournament, participating teams have announced their first six roster players. From the Ducks organization, three players have been announced to their country’s “first six”: Radko Gudas (Czechia), Lukas Dostal (Czechia), and Damian Clara (Italy).
The scorching hot start from the Ducks and their roster players could lead to a few more members of the organization representing their countries come February. Other than the aforementioned three, let’s take a look at some Ducks and their chances of playing in Italy:
Mikael Granlund
Granlund (33) has been a mainstay on Finland’s international rosters throughout his career, representing his home nation at three World Junior Championships, six World Championships, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and most recently at the 2025 “4 Nations Face-Off.”
Finland will be without star center Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury), so Granlund will likely have an elevated role come Olympic time, but it’s almost a certainty he’ll be named to the squad, especially after notching eight points (2-6=8) through his first eight games with the Ducks in 2025-26.
Leo Carlsson
Carlsson (20) was the youngest player to play in the 4-Nations, likely seen as a “13 forward” at the time, and one who narrowly beat out the likes of Mikael Backlund and William Eklund for a roster spot.
Carlsson’s 20 points (6-14=20) place him in a six-way tie for sixth in NHL scoring, and his 4.98 points/60 (min 150 TOI) is second only behind William Nylander (5.63). The question now becomes not if Carlsson makes Sweden’s roster for the Olympics, but rather, as Dom Luszczyszyn and Sean Gentille from “The Athletic” pointed out, is he their 1C, given how the early part of the season has gone for Mika Zibanejad, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Elias Pettersson?
Chris Kreider
Kreider (34) produced his three best seasons in his career with the Rangers in 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24. Combining those seasons, his net-front prowess, and representing the United States at four World Championships and two World Junior Championships likely earned him a spot on the US’ 4 Nations roster, beating out talented players like Jason Robertson, Tage Thompson, Cole Caufield, Clayton Keller, among several others.
His poor 2024-25 season, where he faced a myriad of injuries and only scored 30 points (22-8=30) in 68 games, likely projected him on the outside looking in when it came to a spot on the 2026 Olympic team.
He was among 44 players invited to the US’ Olympic orientation camp and came out of the gates white hot for Anaheim in his first season with the club, tallying 10 points (9-1=10) in his first nine games. He’ll have some tough competition, as the US has a deep forward pool to choose from, but the door now seems more open than it was one month ago.
Cutter Gauthier
Gauthier (21) is tied for the NHL lead in goals (11) with Sidney Crosby (ever heard of him). He leads the league in goals/60 with 2.81 (min 150 TOI), shots/60 with 15.86, and is fourth in shot attempts/60 with 24.81.
Gauthier has represented the US at two World Junior Championships and two World Championships, earning two gold medals and one bronze medal. He wasn’t invited to the orientation camp, but his start to the 2025-26 season, where he’s unsustainably on pace to score 69 goals and 113 points, might be too overwhelming to leave him off the team if anything close to this pace continues between now and when final rosters are submitted.
Jackson LaCombe
Lacombe (24) was the Ducks’ breakout star of the 2024-25 season. His performance earned him an eight-year contract extension that will carry an AAV of $9 million, starting in the 2026-27 season. He was invited to the US orientation camp with Kreider and represented the US at the 2025 World Championship and 2021 World Junior Championship, earning gold medals each time.
He’s become the Ducks’ number one defenseman, leading the team in TOI/G (25:19), power play TOI/G (4:12), and shorthanded TOI/G (3:18) this season. He hasn’t produced at the same rate he did a year ago, only managing five points (0-5=5) through his first 13 games.
He has an uphill battle when it comes to cracking that final roster, and unless he has a dynamite November, it’s unlikely he’ll be wearing the red, white, and blue in February.
Troy Terry
Prior to this season, Terry (28) had settled into a nice 55-60 point winger for the Ducks: an important piece to their present and future roster, but never considered a “core piece.” His 17 points (5-12=17) in 13 games place him tied for 23rd in the NHL and seventh among American-born players.
He hasn’t represented the United States since the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, when North American professional players weren’t able to represent their countries.
For Terry, it will be tough to replace any of the forwards who represented the US at the 4 Nations AND fend off hungry, talented forwards mentioned in Kreider’s section. However, if he is to continue this pace, his budding chemistry with Kreider could be something for the selection committee to consider if they want to add some firepower and an effective penalty killer to their bottom-six.
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