“The Ducks have been really supportive of myself and my family as well over the past couple years,” Moore said of his decision with Anaheim. “For the amount of time and effort they have invested in me and my development, I can’t be more thankful for that. I’m excited for the opportunity they’ve given me now. I’ve been some great relationships with the staff and players, and it’s a place I felt very comfortable. I’m fortunate to have this opportunity.”
Moore’s debut will come with a tough test too, as the Ducks face the playoff-bound Avalanche tonight skating in their season finale and gearing up for a first round series with the Dallas Stars. With the playoffs on their mind, Colorado held out star center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Devon Toews and Cale Makar from the club’s lineup last night in LA, ultimately falling 5-4 to the Kings.
“Regardless of who was in the lineup tonight, I like the way we competed tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told NHL.com’s Dan Greenspan. “We certainly made a handful of mistakes that we didn’t like. But I think just like big picture, looking at the whole game, competitive, detail, we were involved physically, and I liked our skating tonight, so I thought we did a lot of good things.”
Colorado will face an old friend in the first round in Stars winger and former Av Mikko Rantanen, traded from the club earlier this year then as a pending free agent, but also appears close to welcoming back its captain, Gabriel Landeskog, to the lineup for the first time in three years. Landeskog, who has been sidelined with knee ailments since helping Colorado capture the 2022 Stanley Cup title, this week appeared in his first professional game since that playoff run with Colorado’s AHL affiliate. His return to NHL action has not yet been announced.
“I’ve always tried to kind of stay present, live in the moment. Still going to do that,” Landeskog said to NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding. “I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I do know that I feel good today. Hopefully I feel good tomorrow and we can keep working and I can keep practicing, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Colorado (48-29-4, 100 points) will finish third in the Central Division and return to the postseason for the eighth straight year.
