The Anaheim Ducks named Mikael Granlund the 10th captain in franchise history on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, the team announced. Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry, Alex Killorn and Jackson LaCombe were named alternate captains.
Granlund, 34, takes over from Radko Gudas, who captained the Ducks the past two seasons before leaving for the Florida Panthers this offseason. The appointment comes days before Anaheim opens the regular season Oct. 2 at Vegas, with the home opener against Florida on Oct. 4.
Verbeek: “a natural fit”
“Mikael has been a strong leader in our locker room and with his national team over the years, and he is a natural fit with where we are as a hockey club,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in the announcement.
Granlund is entering his second season with the Ducks, who signed him to a three-year, $21 million contract ($7M AAV) as a free agent on July 1, 2025. He tied for seventh on the team in scoring last season with 19 goals and 41 points in 58 games, then added five goals and 10 points in 12 playoff games as Anaheim ended a seven-season postseason drought and reached the second round. He also captained Finland to bronze at the February 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
“This is an incredible honor to be the captain of the Anaheim Ducks and join the many other great captains in the organization’s history,” Granlund said in the same statement.
Young core stays in the leadership group
Carlsson, 21, is part of the leadership group as an alternate captain after the Ducks matched the five-year, $90 million offer sheet he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Keeping Carlsson alongside Terry, Killorn and LaCombe signals that the captaincy can pass to a young core player later, a succession the Ducks have not spelled out.
The Ducks went without a captain for two seasons after Ryan Getzlaf retired in 2022 before naming Gudas, then 34 and in his second year with the club, in 2024.