Report: Anaheim Ducks Took Swings At Two Big Free Agents In July

The Anaheim Ducks didn't make a lot of impactful moves this offseason, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

According to hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, the Ducks took big swings at trying to land two big free agents back on July 1st:

The Ducks are going in the right direction. They've got a lot of good young players. The other interesting thing about the Ducks — I think they took some big swings in free agency. I think they went hard at (Steven) Stamkos, and I think they went really hard at Jonathan Marchessault. I think they want to start ramping it up again, they want to start being more competitive.

We had heard back in the summer about their attempt at Stamkos, but now we learn they were also all-in on Marchessault, before losing out to the Nashville Predators on both players.

There's no doubt the Ducks see the light at the end of the tunnel, with an exciting future ahead, and landing either of those two Cup-winning veterans would have been a huge step forward.

Nevertheless, Ducks fans still have a lot to look forward to this season, with the likes of Leo Carlsson entering his second NHL season, and Cutter Gauthier, who tore it up at Boston College, then forced his way out of the Philadelphia Flyers system to land in Anaheim. The former No. 5 overall pick played one game late last season with the Ducks, and fared well, even recording an assist and a +1 plus/minus rating.

With plenty of cap space at the moment (over $20 million), it's reasonable to expect them to try to go all-out in free agency again next July.