Anaheim Ducks Chase De Leo to miss eight weeks with MCL sprain

The Anaheim Ducks announced Thursday that forward Chase De Leo will miss approximately eight weeks with a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) sprain that was suffered in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

De Leo was on the receiving end of Kings’ forward Arthur Kaliyev’s kneeing major. Kaliyev was suspended Wednesday by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for two regular season games.

The 27-year-old captained the Ducks’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the San Deigo Gulls, last season, where he tallied nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points in 22 games. De Leo was the Gulls winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the San Diego community. De Leo became the first Southern California captain in the Gulls’ AHL history on Oct. 14.

De Leo was initially drafted No .99 overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by the Winnipeg Jets; he spent three seasons with the Jets organization, primarily playing for their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. In 2018-19, De Leo was traded to the Ducks in exchange for the late Nic Kerdiles. The La Mirada, California product made his Ducks debut that season. He has since spent four seasons with the Gulls and Ducks organization, and in 2021-22, he had a brief stint with the New Jersey Devils and Utica Comets, where he tallied a career-high 56 points in 55 AHL games.

De Leo is a WHL Champion and was a pinnacle member of the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Portland Winterhawks runs from 2011-12 to 2014-15. In four seasons with Portland, De Leo earned 110 goals and 141 assists for 251 points with a +111 rating in 115 career WHL games from 2011-15.