Young Ducks showing maturity this postseason

Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson (91) celebrates during the NHL game against the Edmonton Oilers, Thursday April 30th, 2026 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. ANAHEIM, Calif. — One of the more prominent ingredients to a successful playoff team is experience.

There is a common belief in hockey that teams need to lose in the playoffs first in order to break through. The Ducks, however, don’t appear to subscribe to that line of thinking. Despite having the fifth youngest roster in hockey by average age, the Ducks aren’t playing how a young team that’s in its first playoffs in eight years normally would.

They’ve already knocked out the reigning back-to-back Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers in the first round. And through two games against the heavily playoff-experienced Vegas Golden Knights, the Ducks have looked like the better team in each game. “The maturity of our team, that's what I've been most proud of,” Troy Terry said.

“It's just how mature our team's been in some of these games, and the things that maybe plagued us during the regular season, I think we're really ratcheting down on a lot of this stuff and playing complete games. ” It feels like ages ago when the Ducks went 2-6-2 in their last 10 games of the regular season to limp into their first playoff appearance in eight years while playing their worst hockey of the season. But in reality, it’s only been three weeks.