14 Games, $43.2 Million: The Ducks Bet Early on Tristan Luneau

Tristan Luneau has played 14 NHL games, and just one of them last season. The Anaheim Ducks just signed him for six more years at $43.2 million, or $7.2 million a season.

That looks like a big number for a player with two goals and two assists in the league. It makes more sense once you look at Anaheim's summer.

Burned once, not twice

General manager Pat Verbeek spent months failing to reach a deal with center Leo Carlsson, who then signed a $90 million offer sheet with Philadelphia. It briefly made him the highest-paid player in the NHL, and the Ducks matched it. With other teams circling, Verbeek then gave defenseman Pavel Mintyukov five years at $36 million, and forward Cutter Gauthier got six years and $81 million last month.

The cap squeeze that followed forced Anaheim to waive Chris Kreider, a 22-goal scorer. Locking up Luneau now, before he can be anyone's offer-sheet target, is the lesson learned.

Healthy, finally

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick in 2022 and the Quebec league's top defenseman the next season. He made the Ducks out of camp that fall, then caught a viral infection while practicing with Canada's world junior team and missed the rest of the year. Anaheim kept him mostly in the AHL with San Diego for the next two seasons while his health came back.

The job is open now. Over the summer the Ducks lost Jacob Trouba, captain Radko Gudas, John Carlson and Olen Zellweger from a blue line that wasn't strong to begin with. Luneau joins Jackson LaCombe, who signed for eight years and $72 million a year ago, and Mintyukov as the core of the defense.

Anaheim ended a seven-year playoff drought last spring and reached the second round under Joel Quenneville. Keeping that going will depend in part on whether a defenseman with 14 games of experience is ready for a lot more.