Big things are expected from the 2025-26 Anaheim Ducks in a pivotal season for the franchise. A nearly brand-new, potentially elite coaching staff, led by Joel Quenneville, and four key roster additions headline the team’s offseason. The stated goal of the season is to make the 2026 playoffs and end the organization’s seven-year drought.
Not to be lost in the shuffle is the move to hand the keys to the Anaheim crease over to 25-year-old Czech Olympic goaltender, Lukas Dostal.
Dostal has emerged as one of the NHL’s top young goaltenders after two seasons in a “1A/1B” tandem with veteran John Gibson. Gibson was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on June 28, solidifying Dostal’s place as the undisputed starter of the present and future.
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The Ducks took a significant, 21-point leap in the 2024-25 standings, tallying 80 points. They only managed 58 and 59 points in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, respectively.
Poor traditional team statistics and underlying numbers suggest much of that improvement was boosted by stellar goaltending from Dostal and Gibson. At 5v5, the Ducks held just 45.9% of the shot attempts share (30th in the NHL) and 45.1% of the expected goals share (30th in the NHL). They had the NHL’s worst power play (11.8%), 29th-ranked penalty kill (74.2%), and scored the 30th-most goals in the NHL (217).
What kept the Ducks from the bottom of the standings was their goaltending with a combined .902 SV% and 35.71 goals saved above expected (GSAx). Dostal led the way in Anaheim by starting a career-high 49 games and appearing in 54. He finished his sophomore campaign with a 23-23-7 record, a .902 SV% (.002 above league average), and 14.3 GSAx (16th in the NHL among goalies with >25 games played).
Following Gibson’s departure, Dostal signed a new, five-year contract extension with the Ducks that carries a $6.5 million cap hit, making him the tenth-highest-paid goaltender in the NHL.
According to Bet MGM, Lukas Dostal’s odds to win the 2026 Vezina Trophy come in at +3500, tying him for 14th in the NHL with Jeremy Swayman. To no surprise, the heavy favorites to win the 2026 Vezina are Connor Hellebuyck (+310), Igor Shesterkin (+675), and Andrei Vasilevskiy (+750).
Hellebuyck won the 2025 Vezina with a 47-12-3 record, a .925 SV%, and 39.6 GSAx.
The Ducks will be counting on substantial internal progression from young core pieces, a boost from a high-level coaching staff, key veterans to prolong the battle against aging curves, and Dostal to continue (or even improve) the play he’s displayed in net over his first two full NHL seasons.
Suppose the Ducks achieve their goal of making the playoffs. In that case, they will likely have checked all the aforementioned boxes, which will have led to natural improvements in Dostal’s traditional goaltending numbers (record, SV%, GAA). It will also likely mean an increased spotlight from the national media and the 32 NHL general managers who vote on the Vezina Trophy.
With +3500 odds, Dostal to win the Vezina may be one of the sharper wagers, if one were so inclined.
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