Players to watch at the Ducks' Rookie Camp and Rookie Faceoff

The Anaheim Ducks announced their roster for Rookie Camp and Rookie Faceoff on September 3rd.

Gauthier and Luneau are the highlights of the Ducks' 2024 rookie camp

Rookie camp begins Thursday, September 12th at Great Park Ice in Irvine, California, and the first of three games in the 10-team Rookie Faceoff for the Ducks is scheduled for September 13th at 3:30 p.m., where they will face the rookies of the Colorado Avalanche in El Segundo, California.

Since General Manager Pat Verbeek took over the front office in Anaheim, the Ducks have selected 26 players in three drafts, 16 of them in the first three rounds.

Although some of these players have now moved up to the full-time NHL, the Ducks will still be fielding a large number of talented rookies this weekend.

Stian Solberg, the 23rd overall pick in 2024, Lucas Pettersson, the 36th overall pick in 2024, and Damian Clara, the 60th overall pick in 2023, are all scheduled to play the 2024–25 season in Europe and will not participate in the Ducks' rookie camp, rookie faceoff, or training camp.

With such a star-studded roster, there's a strong case to be made for keeping a close eye on almost every young player, but let's take a look at three of the most exciting young Ducks in Rookie Camp and at the Rookie Faceoff:

*On Sept. 5, the Ducks announced the injuries to goaltender Tomas Suchanek and forward Beckett Sennecke. Suchanek underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL and is expected to miss six to eight months, likely the entire 2024-25 season. Sennecke fractured his foot during offseason training and his timetable for return was set at six to eight weeks.

Gauthier, 20, was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in the 2023-24 season based on his impressive sophomore season at Boston College. He is the Ducks' only rookie player expected to play the entire 2024-25 season in the NHL and is among the top-five favorites to win the Calder Trophy.

All indications are that Gauthier will dominate this tournament and stand out in the rookie camp. He should dictate the game, set the pace and perform at will against his teammates.

Ducks' Gauthier speaks at NHLPA Rookie Showcase

The more exciting aspect of watching Gauthier in rookie camp will be seeing what kind of leadership role he takes on.

“Cutter said right away, 'I want to be a leader for the guys coming into camp for the first time,'” San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said after the Ducks' development camp. “For someone new to the organization to step in right away and take on that responsibility, I applauded him for that. I said, 'Hey, let's build on that,' because that's who he is and that's who he is as a leader for the organization.”

Gauthier is listed as a left wing on the Ducks' roster, but he played primarily at center the past two seasons at Boston College and on the U.S. under-20 team. It will be worth watching to see if he moves to center during rookie camp or if he's simply destined for the wing.

The Ducks took a calculated approach to developing Luneau for the 2023-24 season, but that was largely nullified when he missed most of the season with a knee infection.

After winning the QMJHL Defenseman of the Year award in 2022-23, Luneau (20) made the Ducks' inaugural roster in 2023-24. He was expected to sample life as a pro while playing sporadically for both the Ducks and Gulls during the first half of the season before joining Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Sweden in late December.

Five Ducks talents in The Athletic's Top 100

He played seven games for the Ducks, scoring one goal and two assists, and played six games for the Gulls in the AHL, contributing two assists.

During the trip to Sweden, Luneau's knee became infected and he was out for the remainder of the 2023–24 season.

He participated in the SoFlo summer hockey league in Florida during the offseason, training with several of the Ducks' young players, and all indications are that he has fully recovered from his knee injury.

Luneau is expected to be among the first to be called up to the NHL should the opportunity arise, but it is not out of the question that the right-back could be included in the Ducks' opening-game roster.

Rodwin Dionicio

Dionicio (20) was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft by the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, his second year of draft eligibility.

Since then, Dionicio represented Switzerland at the 2024 World Junior Championship, scoring four points in five games. During the OHL season, he was traded to eventual Memorial Cup winners Saginaw Spirit, where he finished the season with 20 goals and 53 points in his final 44 games.

Ducks young talent Dionicio: Memorial Cup winner

He was Saginaw's leading point scorer during the OHL playoffs with 17 points in 17 games and added another five points in five games en route to the team's Memorial Cup victory.

In January, Dionicio announced that he would play the 2024-25 season in the Swiss National League for EHC Biel-Bienne. However, on May 17, the Ducks announced that they had signed Dionicio to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2024-25 season.

The Swiss NL season is scheduled to begin on September 17, so it looks like Dionicio will play his 2024–25 season in North America, likely in the AHL.

The criticism of Dionicio's game will always be tied to his skating. He is not the smoothest or fastest skater, nor does he have particularly strong four-way agility, but his puck skills, creativity and hockey IQ are well above average.

“He has a better defensive zone awareness now,” said Jim Johnson, the Ducks' director of player development. “His lateral mobility and agility are getting better and now he's working on understanding how to build physical relationships earlier, get close quickly in the defensive zone and stay a little more under control.”

Honorable Mentions: Sam Colangelo, Nathan Gaucher, Yegor Sidorov, Carey Terrance, Noah Warren, Calle Clang

A conversation with VICTORY+ CEO Neil Gruninger

Possible trade targets for Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler