New leadership hoping to return Gulls to winning ways | TheAHL.com

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer

The San Diego Gulls continue to work to get this right.

The parent Anaheim Ducks’ ongoing rebuilding effort has also brought considerable transformation this summer to the Gulls, who will begin their 10th AHL season on Oct. 12 at Toronto. That overhaul started May 13 when the Ducks installed long-time executive and scout Rick Paterson in San Diego’s general-manager vacancy.

After going 26-35-10-1 last season, a 28th-place finish in the AHL, little was off the table in terms of potential changes. The Gulls also need some stability, though, and that starts behind the bench where Matt McIlvane will become the first person since 2020 to begin a second season as San Diego’s head coach.

With seven of the team’s first eight games on the road – including trips to Toronto, Abbotsford and Calgary – a much stronger start than last season is imperative. The Gulls lost 13 straight games from Oct. 20 to Nov. 24 and were left fighting for their season barely six weeks after it had started.

To that end, Paterson and the Ducks took a different approach to building out the San Diego roster. They brought in a trio of veterans on AHL contracts, meaning they can be counted on to be in the Gulls lineup and not subject to recalls to Anaheim. For a team that had 96 player transactions last season, any extra bit of roster stability is most welcome. They went out and got a hard-nosed, experienced defenseman, bringing in Belleville captain Dillon Heatherington. For further blueline help, they added Milwaukee’s Roland McKeown. And for scoring punch, in comes Ryan Carpenter, a veteran of 392 NHL games. Heatherington and McKeown are former Calder Cup champions; Carpenter was an AHL All-Star.

All three players are in training camp with the Ducks.

“There’s a lot of young talent here,” Carpenter told sandiegogulls.com, “whether it’s with Anaheim or guys trying to find a way up. That was me however many years ago. I think as an older guy, you’re expected to show the way and set an example and be there for guys in their journey.”

Heatherington and McKeown have their names on the Calder Cup. Carpenter made a run to the Stanley Cup Final with Vegas in 2018. They know what it takes.

“I look forward to trying to turn that around and be a part of the solution,” McKeown told the team website. “We want to be winners, and it starts with camp here. It’s important to win. People want winners in this league.”

On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.