The Ducks have inked defenseman Konnor Smith to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin next season, the team announced in a news release.
Smith will join their American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, on an amateur tryout for the remainder of this season, as he did at the end of last season, playing six games as a Gull. He had split the 2024-25 campaign between two Ontario Hockey League clubs to finish out his career at the junior level.
He was originally a fourth-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft (No. 97 overall) by the Ducks. He began this season wearing the captain’s “C” for the Owen Sound Attack and finished it with his best offensive showing yet (21 points in 38 games between the regular season and playoffs) for the Brampton Steelheads.
That led to him earning OHL Player of the Week honors last month, edging out lottery pick projection Michael Misa for the award. Brampton was recently eliminated by the Oshawa Generals and the Ducks’ top prospect, forward Beckett Sennecke.
Smith’s most appealing attribute is obvious: He’s 6-foot-6 and weighs around 220 pounds.
He uses his size, too, not only playing a physical game in the trenches and open ice alike, but defending away from the puck effectively and utilizing his substantial reach.
Smith won the Robertson Cup, awarded to the OHL champions, with the Peterborough Petes in 2023, and he was nominated for the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy a year earlier, which honors humanitarian efforts by OHL athletes.