Anaheim Ducks’ Mason McTavish to miss game vs. Oilers with an upper-body injury

Anaheim Ducks head coach Greg Cronin announced that center Mason McTavish will miss Friday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers due to an upper-body injury.

McTavish, 21, had played all of the Ducks’ previous game before the All-Star break, a 3-2 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks, including a shift in overtime. However, with a window of more than a week between games, it certainly opens the door to an off-ice injury occurring, or he was possibly using the break to rest an ailing injury and figured that another game off might help. McTavish did miss some games in December, although it hasn’t been reported on whether or not it’s the same upper-body injury.

McTavish is having an excellent sophomore season for the Ducks, with 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points in 43 games. That puts him on pace for 53 points should he remain healthy after Friday’s game, which would easily surpass an already strong rookie campaign that saw him put up 43 points.

McTavish was the third-overall pick for the Ducks in the 2021 NHL Draft, playing the nine “trial games” for them the following season before he was sent to the OHL. It was the following season in 2022-23 where he made the team for good, already establishing himself as a strong top six forward with more room to grow.

McTavish is currently in the second year of his three-year entry-level contract that comes at a cap hit of $894,617, with up to $2.5 million in performance bonuses. He’s set to become a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights in 2025 offseason, and is eligible for an extension in the 2024 offseason.

With McTavish’s injury, Brett Leason is projected to move up to replace McTavish alongside Jakob Silfverberg and Isac Lundestrom, while Max Jones will draw into the lineup to replace Leason on the fourth line. Jones had been out of the lineup since January 5th due to an upper-body injury of his own.

The Ducks will hope to build on back-to-back wins before the All-Star break when they host the Oilers on Friday at 10 p.m. EST. They currently sit in seventh in the Pacific Division with an 18-30-2 record, which is currently the third-worst record in the league.