Brett Leason, Urho Vaakanainen sign one-year contracts with Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks are bringing back two familiar names, signing forward Brett Leason to a one-year, $1.05 million deal, and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen to a one-year, $1.1 million contract.

Leason, 25, is set for his third season with the Ducks after setting a personal best of 11 goals and 22 points last year. Leason has 20 goals and 37 points in 158 games over four years, so perhaps the 2023-24 season was just the start of a breakout for the young, 6-foot-5 winger.

Drafted in the second round by the Washington Capitals as an overage prospect in 2019, Leason is a decent bottom-six scorer who can skate himself into a top-six role when needed. His improvement last year should give the Ducks some hope that he can step into the lineup and do a bit more over the duration of this new deal.

Vaakanainen, meanwhile, never lived up to expectations after going 18th overall to the Boston Bruins in 2017. He spent four years with the organization, but struggled to maintain a spot in the lineup. He was later moved to Anaheim in 2021-22, where he started to finally establish himself as a more regular NHLer. Last year, he played a career-best 68 games, scoring one goal and 14 points.

According to CapFriendly, the Ducks have $29.655 million in cap space with the only notable RFA being defenseman Jackson LaCombe. The team has been quiet on the free agent front, mostly making minor signings to kick off free agency.