Ducks trade McTavish to St. Louis, ending disappointing chapter
Zach Cavanagh
Host · Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. – For the third time in three seasons, the Anaheim Ducks have traded a former top-10 pick following a prolonged contract negotiation, and this one is the biggest of the bunch.
Anaheim traded forward Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for two 2026 first-round picks on Friday, just shy of 10 months after the 2021 No. 3 overall pick signed a six-year, $42 million deal as a “key piece” of the franchise.
After having no first-round picks entering the NHL Draft–Anaheim traded its first-rounder to Washington in the John Carlson deadline deal this season–the Ducks received two first-rounders from St. Louis in No. 15 and No. 29 overall.
According to Pierre Lebrun of the Athletic, the trade for Mason McTavish was contingent on OHL rookie of the year Nikita Klepov being available at No. 15 overall, and with the dynamic forward still on the board at that pick, the Ducks and Blues consummated the deal. The 17-year-old Saginaw Spirit forward scored 97 points in 67 games in junior last season and will attend Michigan State in the fall.
The trade provides the Ducks more cap room in a summer where they’ll negotiate big restricted free agent contracts with Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, and with more draft capital in their war chest, Anaheim is expected to wield its assets more aggressively to continue to build on its first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2018.
The Ducks have a projected $44.6 million of cap space heading into free agency next Wednesday, July 1.
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McTavish follows the path of his best friends while in Anaheim, 2020 No. 6 overall pick Jamie Drysdale and 2019 No. 9 overall pick Trevor Zegras, who both held out of training camp as RFAs before signing just before the start of the 2023-24 season. Drysdale was later traded to Philadelphia for Gauthier in January 2024, and Zegras was also traded to Philadelphia last summer for Ryan Poehling.
In September, McTavish held out of Ducks training camp, as he and the team negotiated their RFA contract. When McTavish eventually signed the six-year deal, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said the length of the contract represented “his importance to our future.”
“We’re confident he’ll continue to grow into a top player as we build toward sustained success,” Verbeek said in a statement last September.
Out of the gate, McTavish looked like he’d avoid his usual slow start and the one feared after a long negotiation, as he centered Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke’s hot starts with four points in the first two games and six points in the first two games.
However, McTavish never really got to that expected form as the season wore on.
The 23-year-old was supposed to be the solid No. 2 center to drive offense behind Carlsson’s No. 1 center spot, but the production was streaky and inconsistent, the face-off numbers never climbed and penalty troubles dogged McTavish all season long.
Like Zegras before him, McTavish was moved to the wing late in the season to encourage him to use his shot. In his own words, McTavish said he played his best when playing simply and not overthinking it, and this was a move done to encourage that.
With the continued lack of production, McTavish was given even more time to think with healthy scratches in March. Sitting out the regular season games was set to be a wake-up call, as the team finally headed back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After an encouraging career highs with 22 goals, 52 points an an even plus/minus rating in 2024-25 leading into his contract negotiations, McTavish finished this regular season with 17 goals, 42 points and a minus-15 rating.
But there was still the promise of the playoffs, where many hoped the important games and big stage would bring out the best of a player that took home World Junior MVP honors for Canada in 2022.
McTavish registered just one goal and five assists in 10 playoff games and was healthy scratched twice in the second-round series with Vegas, which ultimately made his future in Anaheim a loud question mark.
That question was answered on Friday, as a week’s worth of ramping up speculation led to his trade to St. Louis.
The other thing that McTavish had in common with Drysdale and Zegras was that none were draft choices of Verbeek. McTavish was the last first-round pick the Ducks made before Verbeek took over in February 2022.
The questions now land in Verbeek’s lap, who did re-sign all three of those players before shipping them out. In his defense, the Drysdale trade for Gauthier looks to be an unmitigated success, and Poehling is an excellent and necessary role player for the Ducks, despite not having Zegras’ dynamic skillset.
However, the trade of McTavish leaves a bigger hole than the other two did with just draft picks coming back, and it might be a few years before Klepov can make an NHL impact to judge this on.
It’s now on Verbeek to find another No. 2 center of the future. There may be one in the Ducks’ system already with Roger McQueen making a quick ascent, although Anaheim’s director of amateur scouting Martin Madden said this week to temper expectations of McQueen jumping up to a high-impact level in the NHL.
If it’s not McQueen, the search for an immediate solution begins now with a red-hot NHL trade market and next week with a dried up free agency pool.
Expectations were for this team to improve and build on last season’s return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and first playoff series win since 2017 was not a fluke. The McTavish trade makes a hit to that trajectory, and puts pressure on whatever move is next for Verbeek.
