The Ducks have signed center Josh Lopina to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2022-23 NHL season. Lopina will report to the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL) on an amateur tryout (ATO) for the remainder of this season.
Lopina, 21 (2/16/01), scored 21-29=50 points with a +43 rating and 20 penalty minutes (PIM) in 56 career games with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) from 2020-22. Lopina helped the Minutemen to a national championship in 2020-21 and to a NCAA Tournament appearance this season.
Selected by Anaheim in the fourth round (98th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft, Lopina scored 12-15=27 points with a +22 rating and eight PIM in 27 games with UMass this season, leading the team in power-play goals (6) and ranking second in points per game (1.0) and plus/minus. He won a team-leading 418-of-694 faceoffs (60.2%), ranking ninth in the nation in faceoff wins.
The 6-2, 194-pound forward recorded 9-14=23 points with a +21 rating in 29 games as a freshman in 2020-21. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team and became the first Minuteman player to earn Hockey East Co-Rookie of the Year recognition after ranking sixth among all NCAA freshmen in scoring and eighth in plus/minus while leading all NCAA rookies in faceoff wins (312). A native of Minooka, Ill., Lopina scored 24-38=62 points in 106 career United States Hockey League (USHL) games with the Lincoln Stars from 2018-20
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