There’s still a long way to go. The Anaheim Ducks aren’t close to signing restricted free agents Trevor Zegras or Jamie Drysdale with training camp set to open this week. That is what Pierre LeBrun reported on Tuesday’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN.
“Zegras is the face of the franchise, an offensive star, and what I can tell you is there’s still a tangible gap in talks between the Anaheim Ducks and his representative Pat Brisson. My understanding is they’ve agreed on term, they’re both willing to do a three-year deal, but they’re far apart on the average annual value, so let’s see where that goes. There was another conversation on Tuesday between the two sides which is a positive. Drysdale – his agent Dave Gagner is in Anaheim trying to hammer out a deal but still not close as of Tuesday morning – we’ll see where that goes as that’s another important signing for the Ducks.”
According to Cap Friendly, the Ducks have approximately $16.6 million in available cap space and no other players in need of contracts.
There is a sense of urgency, not only with training camp set to open this week, but also since GM Pat Verbeek said before the 2022-23 campaign that he wouldn’t negotiate extensions for either player during the season.
A Calder Trophy runner-up in 2022, Zegras has put up139 points in 180 career games and led Anaheim in scoring with 65 points last season. He has mentioned more than once how he hopes to ink a new deal soon.
As for Drysdale, he was limited to only eight games due to a torn labrum sustained in October, but is an important piece of the Ducks’ blue line moving forward. He set career highs in games played (81), points (32), and average ice time (19:53) in 2022 when he was just 19 years old.
I totally get if the Ducks and their fanbase are getting antsy.
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