The Anaheim Ducks emerged from their rebuild last season, returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. The team’s ascent has been powered by an enviable collection of high-end young players, such as No. 1 center Leo Carlsson, wingers Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke, as well as No. 1 defenseman Jackson LaCombe.
What often follows when young teams break out is those teams begin to get considerably more expensive as time passes, and that happened dramatically for Anaheim this summer, as Carlsson briefly became the most expensive player in league history (on an annual basis) when he signed an $18MM AAV offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The impact of Carlsson’s new cap hit will be felt across the roster, and one of the side effects it will have is that an increased level of pressure will be placed on the club to staff its bottom-six with inexpensive young players, skaters who are capable of providing real surplus value while playing on cap hits at, or near, the league minimum.
While Anaheim still spent cap space on some premium bottom-six talent this summer, committing just over $6MM per year to A.J. Greer and Jeff Malott, there will still be real opportunity for cheap young players to seize a full-time NHL role, the kind of job that might not be available in another, less cap-strapped organization.
One player poised to take advantage of the increased opportunity available in Anaheim is forward Nikita Nesterenko. Standing 6’2″, 203 pounds, Nesterenko can play both center and along the wing, and has been in the Ducks organization since March 2023, when he was dealt to the team as part of a John Klingberg trade.
Since the 2022-23 campaign, Nesterenko has been able to get into 61 NHL contests, but he has not seized a lasting, full-time role with the Ducks. Despite the number of NHL games played, Nesterenko has spent the majority of each professional season in the AHL.
Now set to turn 25 years old in September, Nesterenko is entering a crucial training camp and preseason. Patrick Present of The Hockey News wrote yesterday that Nesterenko has notably “put in work to develop” a secondary game and “has the makings of a useful bottom-six player for the Ducks who could fill in and provide an impact in the middle six.”
This past season, Nesterenko scored 15 points in 35 games for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL, and added nine points in 29 NHL games. While that production is hardly overwhelming, it’s made more impressive when one considers the way Nesterenko is able to provide on-ice value outside of his scoring.
For the first time in his NHL career, Nesterenko took a regular shift on the penalty kill during his call-ups. He averaged 0:50 time-on-ice per game as a penalty killer, which is more than veteran forward Chris Kreider (a longtime short-handed ace) registered last year.
Despite not possessing any elite offensive tools, it’s easy to see why Nesterenko could carve out a full-time spot in the NHL. His size, ability to play center, secondary offensive talent, and legitimate defensive game make him a well-rounded bottom-six candidate, especially given his cap hit will be $837.5K for next season.
But while he remains a legitimate candidate to claim an NHL job in training camp, there are some complicating factors.
Firstly, the Ducks’ decision to add Greer and Malott over the summer complicates the team’s training camp competition. If the team manages to re-sign Cutter Gauthier without trading away an expensive veteran such as Frank Vatrano, there simply may not be an available roster spot for Nesterenko beyond being the team’s 13th forward.
But if the Ducks do trade away Vatrano, and plug Greer into his vacated role, a fourth-line spot could open up for Nesterenko, alongside Malott and center Tim Washe.
Beyond just considering veteran talent, there are also emerging young players for Nesterenko to contend with. 2025 No. 10 pick Roger McQueen is talented enough to push for an NHL roster spot, and 2026 first-rounder Nikita Klepov could very well earn a nine-game NHL trial, if the buzz around his decision to sign an entry-level contract and forgo an NCAA commitment to Michigan State is to be believed.
But in the case of both players, neither would likely be as ideal a fit for a defensive fourth-line role compared to Nesterenko. And outside of those two top prospects, there aren’t many other depth forwards in Anaheim who figure to pose as large a threat to Nesterenko’s NHL status.
Offseason trade addition Anton Wahlberg, a 6’4″ center who scored 38 points in the AHL last season and brings second-round pedigree, figures to compete with Nesterenko, but the fact that Wahlberg is eligible to be reassigned without waivers could be a deciding factor. The Ducks would need to make Nesterenko available to be claimed by any one of the 31 other NHL teams in order to send him to San Diego.
Other depth forwards such as Sam Colangelo and James Hamblin figure to be in the mix, but the early favorite to claim an NHL spot has to be Nesterenko. In a little under a year from now, Nesterenko is set to hit the open market as a Group VI unrestricted free agent.
With 19 additional NHL games, Nesterenko would become an RFA and lose Group VI eligibility. As long as he can play up to expectations in training camp, expect to see Nesterenko exceed the 80 games played threshold in 2026-27.