From NHL Draft stage to Disneyland, a memorable night for Ducks' Roger McQueen

New York Times

4 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Roger McQueen was flying higher than any other pick in the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday night.
Literally.
After the Anaheim Ducks made him the No. 10 pick of the draft at Peacock Theater and he took pictures and went through rounds of media interviews, McQueen was ushered by club staff into a helicopter atop the JW Marriott hotel and then flown across the Southern California skies to suburban Fullerton. Then came a quick drive over to Disneyland and a visit with Donald Duck and Lightning McQueen.
He's going directly from the #NHLDraft and straight to @Disneyland!
Our 10th overall pick Roger McQueen is ready to take flight🚁@espn | @Honda pic.twitter.com/e3n0FSYFbH
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) June 28, 2025
'It was a great idea by our marketing department,' Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. 'It was a unique opportunity to be able to give the kid a ride of his lifetime. Anyway, it was a special moment for him.'
The Ducks hope McQueen, a right-shot center, will soar just as high in his potential NHL career. The Ducks took a mighty swing to select one of the draft's intriguing question marks. At 6-foot-5, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native is seen to have the kind of talent that could have landed him in a higher draft spot. But there were questions about his recovery from a fracture in his lower back.
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The Ducks, who already have last year's No. 3 pick, Beckett Sennecke, atop a strong prospect pool, could afford to gamble on someone who may not exactly resemble Ryan Getzlaf in style of play and ability but who does basically match the former franchise legend in size and characteristics.
'Had he not gone through the injuries, he probably would have been arguably top-four, top-five in this draft,' Verbeek said. 'He's a unique package in the sense that he moves really well for a 6-foot-5 guy. He has really good skill and he has the ability to be able to score. He's going to play a little different game than some of the guys that we have now in our mix.'
McQueen played only 17 regular-season games this season with the Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings. He appeared in the first eight games but then was shelved for five months after dealing with back pain for more than a year after it surfaced when he played for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament.
A bulging disk was the original diagnosis. But after seeing a spine specialist in Winnipeg, McQueen was diagnosed with a fracture between his L4 and L5 vertebrae. Cleared medically, the 18-year-old returned to the Wheat Kings at the end of the season and for their playoff series against Lethbridge. He did have to leave Game 3 and did not return in the five-game loss.
His full participation in the NHL Scouting Combine helped ease any concerns. McQueen took part in all the medical and physical testing. And he feels his days of rehabilitation are behind him.
'I feel great right now, and I've worked with so many great doctors to be able to help me out with that,' McQueen told The Athletic on Friday. 'And I think just being able to take a little step back and being able to make sure it never happens again. Just training with the right guys and being able to get back on the ice.
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'I'm super pumped. I feel great.'
The back issue didn't scare away the Ducks. They're confident that McQueen is in good shape physically.
'We dug deep and consulted a lot,' Verbeek said. 'Consulted our doctors. Consulted Mike Barwis, our sports science guy. There was a lot of due diligence put into Roger. Making sure that we did our homework. And at the end of the day, we felt comfortable that he's going to be able to overcome any of the step backs that he had last year.'
In his 17 games with Brandon, McQueen totaled 10 goals and 20 points. Verbeek said McQueen will head back to the Wheat Kings and hopefully have a full WHL season to build out his game. The Ducks appear to be set at center — so much so that they felt compelled to trade Trevor Zegras this week — and there isn't any need to rush McQueen's development.
'He's going to be a different player than say Leo (Carlsson) or Mason McTavish in the sense that he has the ability to score goals,' Verbeek said. 'There's certainly 'powerful' written all over him in how he plays the game. He has a little bit of a mean side to him, which I like. There's a high compete there with him.
'When we through the injuries that he had, I think we felt comfortable drafting him. Just all the things that he's gone through to overcome the injury that we felt comfortable drafting him.'
McQueen had dinner with the Ducks during the combine and said he felt an immediate connection with their staff. While he may not be the type of puck distributor that Getzlaf was during his 17 seasons with the franchise, McQueen looks to Getzlaf as a model for his game.
'That was my player comp that I told almost every team,' he said. 'I think that's who I want to try to strive to be. Obviously, that guy's an all-time great with Anaheim. I think that's who I want to put my game towards and try and be my role model in that sense. Maybe be able to get some tips from him for sure.'
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Verbeek said he explored options to trade up in the first round, but was committed to picking no lower than No. 10. It proved to be an otherwise quiet day for Verbeek in an active offseason to this point. He has hired a new coach in Joel Quenneville, acquired Chris Kreider from the New York Rangers and traded Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers. And he isn't likely to be done.
Verbeek confirmed reports that he has worked with John Gibson and his agent, Kurt Overhardt, to find the goalie a new home after 12 up-and-down seasons.
'We have had discussions,' Verbeek said. 'Not sure where any of it's going to go. I always look at things that get presented to me and if it makes sense for the Anaheim Ducks, we'll pursue it. If it doesn't, then we won't.'
As for McQueen, the thrill of being announced by actors Joshua Jackson and Marguerite Moreau – once stars of the 'The Mighty Ducks' movie franchise – led to another high above metropolitan Los Angeles. He soon will be grounded by the work it takes to reach the NHL.
'I think the biggest thing is just growing into my body and being able to be a guy who can play both ends of the ice with a defensive and offensive side of the game,' McQueen said. 'And just being able to put pucks in and then be a force in playoffs. Being able to be one of those power forwards that can you kind of play and multi-dimensional.'