3 questions facing Anaheim Ducks

NHL.com is providing in-depth analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, three important questions facing the Anaheim Ducks.

1. How will Joel Quenneville do in his 1st season with the team?

The 66-year-old and second-winningest coach in NHL history was hired on May 9, and will be tasked with getting the Ducks back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the team has not qualified since 2018.

Quenneville has won the Stanley Cup three times as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks (2010, 2013, 2015) and once with the Colorado Avalanche as an assistant in 1996. He has 1,768 games of head coaching experience, 969 regular-season wins and 121 playoff wins.

"Anytime you have a coach with that much success at different teams, his whole career, everywhere he's gone, he's won," forward Ryan Strome said. "I'm excited. You don't get to play for legendary coaches every day in your career. Coaches come and go in this league, and they get fired very quickly. When you get one like 'Q,' you have to take advantage and learn as much as you can."

2. Will Lukas Dostal have a breakout season after John Gibson's departure?

Dostal played an NHL career-high 54 games last season (49 starts) and was 23-23-7 with a 3.10 goals-against average and .903 save percentage. He signed a five-year contract on July 17 and is the team's No. 1 goalie after the trade of John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings on June 28.

"We know the importance of the position," Quenneville said. "Dostal had a tremendous year. I don't know too many people that get a rave review at this age of their career about what a professional, what a competitor (they are), but everybody always says the greatest things about him. … I don't know if this guy's a stereotypical goalie, but at the same time, he's got some different ways about him that makes him special."

3. Will the offense and power play improve?

The 217 goals scored by the Ducks last season were 30th in the NHL, ahead of only the Nashville Predators (212) and San Jose Sharks (208). Anaheim finished 30th in 2023-24 (208 goals) and 31st in 2022-23 (206) and have ranked no higher than 24th in the past seven seasons. The power play was also last in the NHL last season (11.8 percent).

Enter veteran forwards Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund, each acquired in the offseason. Kreider has at least 20 goals in 10 of his past 11 seasons and 116 career power-play goals. Granlund had 22 goals last season and has 187 power-play points in his career.

"I'm looking forward to getting to the rink with that group," Kreider told the Ducks website following the trade. "Getting to work, building something special. ... Going into every training camp, the goal is to make it to the playoffs, and I'm looking forward to helping this group get there and doing what I can to help win hockey games."

NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report