Ducks agree to 6-year, $42 million deal with holdout center Mason McTavish

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The Anaheim Ducks signed Mason McTavish to a six-year contract worth $42 million on Saturday, ending their key center's holdout after less than two weeks.

The 22-year-old McTavish was a restricted free agent, and he didn’t report to camp with the rest of the Ducks on Sept. 18 after negotiations dragged on his new deal. General manager Pat Verbeek initially called McTavish’s absence “disappointing,” particularly because the team is installing a new system under coach Joel Quenneville.

Verbeek was pleased to end his latest difficult contract negotiation with enough time for McTavish to get up to speed with the Ducks' changes.

“Ultimately, both sides realized you want the player to be in camp,” Verbeek said. "The player wanted to be in camp, so you work towards a compromise.”

McTavish will be at practice with the Ducks on Monday, Verbeek said. Anaheim has three more preseason games over the next week before the club opens the regular season at Seattle on Oct. 9, and Verbeek would like to see McTavish in the lineup for a preseason game.

“I think he came in at a good time," Verbeek said. “If he got in any later, it might have been a little more difficult for him, but I think he’ll be in a good spot.”

McTavish went home to Canada before training camp began and skated with the OHL's Ottawa 67's, but the sides bridged their gap in the past few days and reached a deal to keep McTavish in his role as one of the Ducks' top two centers alongside Leo Carlsson.

McTavish has spent the past three full seasons with the Ducks, who drafted him third overall in 2021. He has 60 goals and 80 assists in 229 games for Anaheim after posting career bests of 22 goals and 30 assists last season as the club's second-leading scorer.

“I believe in the direction of this organization and the group we have in the locker room," McTavish said in a news release. "We’re building something special, and I want to help this team take the next step toward becoming a consistent playoff contender and, ultimately, a championship team.”

McTavish has grown as a playmaker and a defensive forward despite playing on three straight nonplayoff teams with the Ducks, who have missed the postseason in seven consecutive years.

Verbeek has said he expects Anaheim to make the playoffs this season after posting a 21-point improvement in the standings last spring and then hiring Quenneville, the second-winningest coach in NHL history. The Ducks also acquired veteran forward Chris Kreider in a trade with the Rangers, and they signed experienced scorer Mikael Granlund.

McTavish’s new deal has a limited no-trade clause in the final two seasons, Verbeek said.

Verbeek had even more difficult contract negotiations with defenseman Jamie Drysdale and center Trevor Zegras when both reached restricted free agency and held out of camp in 2023. The Ducks ultimately re-signed both players to contracts widely perceived to be fair market value, but Verbeek still ended up trading both players to Philadelphia 17 months apart.

“That’s just the nature of the beast,” Verbeek said. "It’s just the way it happens. Every agent has a process. We have a process that we go through. You like to get these things finished earlier than later, but they just play themselves out. This thing was no different than the last time with Jamie and Trevor. I think this time around, we got it done much earlier than last time.”

Verbeek's job is just getting started, however: Carlsson, left wing Cutter Gauthier and defensemen Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger are all scheduled to hit restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL