2020–21 Anaheim Ducks season

The 2020–21 Anaheim Ducks season was the 28th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 15, 1993.^[1]

2020–21 Anaheim Ducks
Division	8th West
2020–21 record	17–30–9
Home record	6–18–4
Road record	11–12–5
Goals for	126
Goals against	179
Team information
General manager	Bob Murray
Coach	Dallas Eakins
Captain	Ryan Getzlaf
Alternate captains	Ryan Kesler Josh Manson Jakob Silfverberg
Arena	Honda Center
Minor league affiliate(s)	San Diego Gulls (AHL) Tulsa Oilers (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Max Comtois (16)
Assists	Rickard Rakell (19)
Points	Max Comtois (33)
Penalty minutes	Nicolas Deslauriers (53)
Plus/minus	Trevor Zegras (+6)
Wins	John Gibson (9)
Goals against average	Anthony Stolarz (2.20)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Ducks played this season in the West Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season.

On April 29, the Ducks were eliminated from playoff contention after the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild.^[2] They finished last in their division for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

Following offensive woes the whole season, Anaheim finished with the worst single-season power play in NHL history, at 8.94%.^[3]

Standings

Divisional standings

West Division

Pos	Team v t e	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	p – Colorado Avalanche	56	39	13	4	35	197	133	+64	82
2	x – Vegas Golden Knights	56	40	14	2	30	191	124	+67	82
3	x – Minnesota Wild	56	35	16	5	27	181	160	+21	75
4	x – St. Louis Blues	56	27	20	9	19	169	170	−1	63
5	Arizona Coyotes	56	24	26	6	19	153	176	−23	54
6	Los Angeles Kings	56	21	28	7	19	143	170	−27	49
7	San Jose Sharks	56	21	28	7	15	151	199	−48	49
8	Anaheim Ducks	56	17	30	9	11	126	179	−53	43

Source: National Hockey League^[4]
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater number of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater number of goals scored (GF)
p – Clinched Presidents' Trophy; x – Clinched playoff spot

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.^[5]

2020–21 game log
January: 3–5–2 (Home: 2–3–1; Road: 1–2–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 Anaheim 2–5 Vegas Gibson 0 0–1–0 0 [6] 2 January 16 Anaheim 1–2 Vegas OT Gibson 0 0–1–1 1 [7] 3 January 18 Minnesota 0–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 1–1–1 3 [8] 4 January 20 Minnesota 3–2 Anaheim Miller 0 1–2–1 3 [9] 5 January 22 Colorado 3–2 Anaheim OT Gibson 0 1–2–2 4 [10] 6 January 24 Colorado 1–3 Anaheim Gibson 0 2–2–2 6 [11] 7 January 26 Anaheim 1–0 Arizona Gibson 1,808 3–2–2 8 [12] 8 January 28 Anaheim 2–3 Arizona Gibson 2,252 3–3–2 8 [13] 9 January 30 St. Louis 6–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 3–4–2 8 [14] 10 January 31 St. Louis 4–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 3–5–2 8 [15]
February: 3–5–3 (Home: 1–2–2; Road: 2–3–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 11 February 2 Anaheim 3–1 Los Angeles Gibson 0 4–5–2 10 [16] 12 February 5 San Jose 5–4 Anaheim SO Gibson 0 4–5–3 11 [17] 13 February 6 San Jose 1–2 Anaheim SO Miller 0 5–5–3 13 [18] 14 February 9 Anaheim 4–5 Vegas Miller 0 5–6–3 13 [19] 15 February 11 Anaheim 1–0 Vegas Gibson 0 6–6–3 15 [20] 16 February 15 Anaheim 2–3 San Jose Gibson 0 6–7–3 15 [21] 17 February 18 Minnesota 3–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 6–8–3 15 [22] 18 February 20 Minnesota 5–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 6–9–3 15 [23] 19 February 22 Anaheim 3–4 Arizona Gibson 2,346 6–10–3 15 [24] 20 February 24 Anaheim 3–4 Arizona SO Miller 2,319 6–10–4 16 [25] 21 February 27 Vegas 3–2 Anaheim OT Gibson 0 6–10–5 17 [26]
March: 5–10–1 (Home: 2–6–0; Road: 3–4–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 22 March 1 St. Louis 5–4 Anaheim Gibson 0 6–11–5 17 [27] 23 March 3 St. Louis 3–2 Anaheim Gibson 0 6–12–5 17 [28] 24 March 5 Anaheim 2–3 Colorado OT Gibson 0 6–12–6 18 [29] 25 March 6 Anaheim 5–4 Colorado OT Miller 0 7–12–6 20 [30] 26 March 8 Los Angeles 5–6 Anaheim OT Gibson 0 8–12–6 22 [31] 27 March 10 Los Angeles 5–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 8–13–6 22 [32] 28 March 12 San Jose 6–0 Anaheim Gibson 0 8–14–6 22 [33] 29 March 13 San Jose 3–1 Anaheim Miller 0 8–15–6 22 [34] 30 March 16 Anaheim 4–8 Colorado Miller 0 8–16–6 22 [35] 31 March 18 Arizona 2–3 Anaheim OT Miller 0 9–16–6 24 [36] 32 March 20 Arizona 5–1 Anaheim Miller 0 9–17–6 24 [37] 33 March 22 Anaheim 1–2 Minnesota Miller 0 9–18–6 24 [38] 34 March 24 Anaheim 2–3 Minnesota Miller 0 9–19–6 24 [39] 35 March 26 Anaheim 4–1 St. Louis Gibson —[a] 10–19–6 26 [40] 36 March 28 Anaheim 3–2 St. Louis OT Stolarz —[a] 11–19–6 28 [41] 37 March 29 Anaheim 2–5 Colorado Miller 0 11–20–6 28 [42]
April: 4–9–1 (Home: 0–7–1; Road: 4–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 38 April 2 Arizona 4–2 Anaheim Stolarz 0 11–21–6 28 [43] 39 April 4 Arizona 3–2 Anaheim OT Gibson 0 11–21–7 29 [44] 40 April 6 Anaheim 5–1 San Jose Gibson 0 12–21–7 31 [45] 41 April 9 Colorado 2–0 Anaheim Gibson 0 12–22–7 31 [46] 42 April 11 Colorado 4–1 Anaheim Gibson 0 12–23–7 31 [47] 43 April 12 Anaheim 4–0 San Jose Stolarz 0 13–23–7 33 [48] 44 April 14 Anaheim 4–1 San Jose Stolarz 0 14–23–7 35 [49] 45 April 16 Vegas 4–0 Anaheim Gibson 1,717 14–24–7 35 [50] 46 April 18 Vegas 5–2 Anaheim Gibson 1,717 14–25–7 35 [51] 47 April 20 Anaheim 1–4 Los Angeles Stolarz 1,431 14–26–7 35 [52] 48 April 24 Vegas 5–1 Anaheim Gibson 1,717 14–27–7 35 [53] 49 April 26 Anaheim 1–4 Los Angeles Stolarz 1,373 14–28–7 35 [54] 50 April 28 Anaheim 3–2 Los Angeles Gibson 1,763 15–28–7 37 [55] 51 April 30 Los Angeles 2–1 Anaheim Gibson 1,717 15–29–7 37 [56]
May: 2–1–2 (Home: 1–0–0; Road: 1–1–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 52 May 1 Los Angeles 2–6 Anaheim Miller 1,717 16–29–7 39 [57] 53 May 3 Anaheim 1–3 St. Louis Gibson —[a] 16–30–7 39 [58] 54 May 5 Anaheim 3–2 St. Louis SO Stolarz —[a] 17–30–7 41 [59] 55 May 7 Anaheim 3–4 Minnesota OT Gibson 3,000 17–30–8 42 [60] 56 May 8 Anaheim 3–4 Minnesota OT Miller 3,300 17–30–9 43 [61]
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Transactions

The Ducks have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Free agents

Date	Player	New team	Previous team	Ref
October 9, 2020	Derek Grant	Anaheim Ducks	Philadelphia Flyers	[62]
October 9, 2020	Kevin Shattenkirk	Anaheim Ducks	Tampa Bay Lightning	[63]
October 9, 2020	Matt Irwin	Buffalo Sabres	Anaheim Ducks	[64]
October 9, 2020	Kevin Boyle	Detroit Red Wings	Anaheim Ducks	[65]
October 9, 2020	Kyle Criscuolo	Detroit Red Wings	Anaheim Ducks	[66]
October 9, 2020	Vinni Lettieri	Anaheim Ducks	New York Rangers	[67]
October 9, 2020	Andy Welinski	Anaheim Ducks	Philadelphia Flyers	[67]
October 10, 2020	Kiefer Sherwood	Colorado Avalanche	Anaheim Ducks	[68]

Imports

This section is for players who were not previously on contract with NHL teams in the past season. Listed is the last team and league they were under contract with.

Date	Player	New team	Previous team	League	Ref
November 6, 2020	Jacob Perreault	Anaheim Ducks	Sarnia Sting	OHL	[69]
November 7, 2020	Jamie Drysdale	Anaheim Ducks	Erie Otters	OHL	[70]
October 11, 2020	Maxim Golod	Anaheim Ducks	Erie Otters	OHL	[71]

Trades

• Retained salary transaction: Each team is allowed up to three contracts on their payroll where they have retained salary in a trade (i.e. the player no longer plays with Team A due to a trade to Team B, but Team A still retains some salary). Only up to 50% of a player's contract can be kept, and only up to 15% of a team's salary cap can be taken up by retained salary. A contract can only be involved in one of these trades twice.

Hover over-retained salary or conditional transactions for more information.

October

October 7, 2020	To Anaheim Ducks 7th-round pick in 2020 (#207 overall)	To Columbus Blue Jackets 7th-round pick in 2022	[72]
October 8, 2020	To Anaheim Ducks EDM 5th-round pick in 2021	To Ottawa Senators Erik Gudbranson	[73]

Draft picks

See also: List of Anaheim Ducks draft picks

Below are the Anaheim Ducks' selections at the 2020 NHL entry draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26-27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 6-7, 2020 the draft was held virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	6	Jamie Drysdale	D	Canada	Erie Otters (OHL)
1	271	Jacob Perreault	RW	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
2	36	Sam Colangelo	RW	United States	Chicago Steel (USHL)
3	67	Ian Moore	D	United States	St. Mark's School (USHS-Prep)
4	1042	Thimo Nickl	D	Austria	Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL)
5	129	Artyom Galimov	C	Russia	Ak Bars Kazan (KHL)
6	160	Albin Sundsvik	C	Sweden	Skellefteå AIK (SHL)
7	2073	Ethan Bowen	C	Canada	Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL)

Notes

1. The Boston Bruins' first-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on February 21, 2020, that sent Ondrej Kase to Boston in exchange for David Backes, Axel Andersson and this pick.^[74]
2. The Nashville Predators' fourth-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on February 24, 2020, that sent Derek Grant to Philadelphia in exchange for Kyle Criscuolo and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[75] The condition – Anaheim will receive the higher of Nashville or Philadelphia's fourth-round pick in 2020.^[75] – was converted when Nashville was eliminated from the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs on August 7, 2020, ensuring that Nashville would select higher than Philadelphia.^[76]
3. The Columbus Blue Jackets' seventh-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a trade on October 7, 2020, that sent a conditional seventh-round pick in 2022 or 2023 to Columbus in exchange for this pick.^[77][78]