The rebuilding Ducks are at an important franchise crossroads, and starting Wednesday, the draft spotlight in Nashville will be trained on general manager Pat Verbeek and assistant general manager Martin Madden, who leads the amateur scouting staff.

It’s the second time in team history that the Ducks are set to pick No. 2 and the first time under Madden’s watch. It’s one thing to draft well with a high pick, but Madden has unearthed gems from less-than-optimal positions, starting with his second draft with the Ducks, taking defenseman Cam Fowler at No. 12 in 2010 and goaltender John Gibson at No. 39 a year later.

More recently, there was forward Trevor Zegras at No. 9 in 2019, defenseman Jamie Drysdale at No. 6 in 2020 and center Mason McTavish at No. 3 in 2021.

There are plenty of things that are beyond their control, but the Ducks will actually have that rare feeling at the draft because highly touted Connor Bedard is a lock to the Chicago Blackhawks at No. 1. The Ducks, in addition to the second overall pick, have three selections in the second round (Nos. 33, 59 and 60 overall) and the first pick of the third (66th overall).

“It’s super exciting – it’s a strong draft at the top,” Madden said to the Orange County Register last week. “The top five teams are going to get an impact player. There’s some stylistic differences in the way those players will impact games … but we control where we’re going to pick at two.

“Or how we decide to monetize that No. 2 value. It’s one thing I still need to keep an open mind and be flexible because, at this point, it’s still just a pick. Until we actually get up on the stage and say the name.

“That pick could be gone and used in a trade, used to go down and get multiple assets. So we go to the list the way we usually do and we wait until it’s our time to pick. ‘OK, are we picking here? Or are we picking somewhere else?’”

That kind of movement – for those of us who welcome draft-day drama – just doesn’t happen in the NHL, at least not in the salary-cap era. Could it occur in Nashville? At least the team picking at No. 3, the Columbus Blue Jackets, does have a general manager in Jarmo Kekäläinen who doesn’t shy away from bold moves, like Verbeek.

At No. 2, there are well-constructed cases to be made for Canadian forward Adam Fantilli of the University of Michigan, Swedish forward Leo Carlsson of Orebro HK, Russian forward Matvei Michkov of the KHL or even American center Will Smith, who will be attending Boston College this fall.

Madden praised the competitiveness of Fantilli, this year’s Hobey Baker winner.

“He plays fast. He wants to win,” Madden said. “Understands the point is to have the puck and score goals.”

An NHL scout – not from the Ducks – cautioned against overlooking Carlsson, giving him the edge over Fantilli, saying that Carlsson can create and score.

TSN draft guru Craig Button was impressed how Carlsson coped with a maturing body in his draft year and Madden echoed that sentiment.

“What impressed me the most this year is how his mobility and his elusiveness continued to grow as he was getting bigger,” Madden said. “He grew almost two inches from the end of the previous season to the end of this season.”

After his stellar collegiate season at Michigan – in which Fantilli had 30 goals and 65 points in 36 games – he stepped up and away from his peer group as the youngest member of gold medal-winning Team Canada at the World Championships in May.

Individually, there was this highlight-reel, game-winning goal against Latvia in the semifinals.

CANADA IS GOING FOR GOLD!

Fantilli’s late game goal sends Canada to the #IIHF2023 finals. pic.twitter.com/b8ewWzXKr0

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 27, 2023

Veteran forward Milan Lucic of the Calgary Flames was on Fantilli’s line in the latter stages of the tournament and set up Fantilli’s goal against Latvia.

“Great talent, great skater,” said Lucic, who will be an unrestricted free agent. “He’s got good size. A lot of great creativity. You saw it in the semifinal goal he scored against Latvia. Undressed the D-man there and you can see he has a knack for scoring.”

The NHL’s draft lottery was held during the World Championships and when the Ducks landed at No. 2, Lucic – and others – did a sales job on Anaheim for Fantilli

“Him being out of Toronto and playing in Michigan and Chicago Steel, he actually didn’t know much about Anaheim,” Lucic said. “It was funny. A bunch of us were telling him, ‘Hey, if there’s a place to go, Anaheim is pretty awesome.’

“I said, ‘There’s a reason (Ryan) Getzlaf and (Corey) Perry played there as long as they did.’ Even (Teemu) Selanne and other guys still live there and loved playing there.”

Getzlaf’s new role

Speaking of Getzlaf, the Ducks announced Tuesday that their all-time leading scorer, who retired after the 2021-22 season, will be working for the organization as player development coordinator. In that specific role, he will assist Jim Johnson, the Ducks’ director of player development.

“I am so excited to be back in a role where I feel I can help our young players, who are the focal point of both the future and present of our hockey club,” Getzlaf said in a statement. “This opportunity will give me the chance to help them in the critical years of their development and share the many years of experiences that I have had. I would also like to thank Pat (Verbeek) and his staff for giving me the chance to come in and learn, as well as help where I can.”

NHL schedule released

The Ducks will open their 2023-24 regular season on Oct. 14 on the road against the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, followed by their home opener at Honda Center the next day against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Ducks acquire Agozzino

The Ducks made a minor trade with San Jose on Tuesday, sending defenseman Andrej Sustr to the Sharks for forward Andrew Agozzino.

Agozzino, 32, played five games for the Ducks in 2019-20 and three more in Anaheim and 31 with AHL San Diego the following season. He had three points in four games with the Sharks this past season but played most of the season with their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.

“Andrew requested a trade after the season, citing personal reasons, and we wanted to facilitate his request,” Sharks assistant GM Joe Will said in a statement.

Agozzino has one year remaining on his contract. Sustr is a pending unrestricted free agent.

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