After an arduous rookie season in 2023-24, Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe took a sizable step in his progression in 2024-25, jumping from 17 points (2-15=17) in 71 games while averaging 19:23 TOI/G to 43 points (14-29=43) in 75 games and leading the Ducks in TOI/G with 22:18.

When LaCombe was discussed among breakout players in 2024-25 among national media outlets, it was met with a chorus of “WHO?”

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Just prior to the 2025-26 season, on Oct. 2, 2025, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek signed LaCombe to an eight-year contract extension that carries an AAV of $9 million, and will not kick in until the start of the 2026-27 season.

Upon the extension announcement and when it reached a national audience, it was again met with a chorus of “WHO?”

On Jan. 21, 2026, it was announced that USA Hockey selected LaCombe to replace Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones on USA’s 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey team that would play in Milano Cortina in February.

Guess what the reaction was. That’s correct, a chorus of “WHO?”

He didn’t see any ice during USA’s run to a gold medal, but returned to Orange County with one around his neck, regardless, and gained valuable experience skating on the same ice with the world’s best hockey players day in and day out.

LaCombe continued to elevate his game and finished the 2025-26 season with 58 points (10-48=58) in 82 games, again leading the Ducks in TOI/G with 24:15, 17th in the entire NHL. He is the blueline’s centerpiece, a true NHL #1 defenseman, on a Ducks team that made a 12-point jump in the standings (a year removed from a 21-point jump in the standings) and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

Through three playoff games, one would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know the name “Jackson LaCombe,” as he’s been one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs’ top performers, and the argument could easily be made that he’s been the single best. However, due to the late starts in the series between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, there are still those relatively unfamiliar.

As of Saturday morning, when three games were played across all eight playoff series, LaCombe co-led the NHL in scoring (with Leon Draisaitl) with six points (1-5=6) and led all defensemen in scoring by two points. However impressive the production has been, what he’s accomplishing over the entire 200-foot ice surface, on the defensive side of the puck, and against Planet Earth’s single best hockey player (maybe in history) has been transcendent.

“It’s insane. I think he’s probably our best player,” Ducks forward Mason McTavish said. “He just does everything. Even in practice, when he’s defending a two-on-one, it’s so hard to pass through him every time. Just his skating, he’s so smart in the o-zone, he’s a single-man breakout. He literally does it all, so it’s been really fun to watch him step into this role.”

Through three games, LaCombe has led the Ducks with 67:55 TOI at 5v5. In those minutes, the Ducks have registered 62.30% of the shots on goal, 55.94% of the shot attempts, 62.24% of the expected goals, and have outscored the Oilers 6-4.

Though Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville didn’t have the benefit of last change in the first two games of the series, he deployed LaCombe, along with partner Jacob Trouba, as much as he could against Connor McDavid and the Oilers’ top line. All but three defensive zone starts featured LaCombe and Trouba.

When the series shifted back to Anaheim for Game 3, McDavid was on the ice against LaCombe for 13:55 TOI and Trouba for 13:39 at 5v5, a far cry from the Ducks’ second pair of John Carlson (4:58) and Pavel Mintyukov (4:55).

“Oh my god, was he good tonight,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said after Friday’s 7-4 Game 3 win over Edmonton. “He was special tonight. The plays, the poise, and the patience he had on the goal at the empty net kind of sums up the night. He did have the puck a lot, and I thought his speed going through the middle and into the zone was high-end, and he was definitely a factor.”

In total, in this series, LaCombe has gone head-to-head against McDavid for 33:10 TOI at 5v5. In those minutes, the Ducks have won the shots on goal battle 20-10 (66.67%), the shot attempts battle 45-32 (58.44%), the expected goals battle 1.44-0.88 (61.95%), and the Ducks have outscored the Oilers 4-1.

Game 3 was LaCombe’s standout performance to this point in the playoffs, as he took his game to heights unseen and capped off his efforts with a spinning backhand disruption against a 2v1 featuring McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and a play where he (at the end of a long shift) drove McDavid into the corner, won a puck, ignited a breakout, and joined a rush that the Ducks eventually scored on to extend their lead to 6-4, effectively icing the game.

In today’s NHL, which features electric, dynamic talents like Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Lane Hutson, who will bring fans out of their seats by dancing at the offensive blueline, the fashion in which LaCombe impacts a game is far more subtle and understated while remaining equally as impactful.

Watching him on a shift-by-shift basis will reveal how immensely involved he is in every play, in every zone, while remaining efficient in his efforts, never wasting a stride and poised throughout. He’s so effective on his edges that with just a few strides, LaCombe will often retrieve a puck, evade an F1, conduct a one-man breakout, dish at the offensive blueline, drive the center lane toward the crease, track back, and seal an opposing counter to win the puck back again.

While hesitant to invoke such a name, there’s been only one defenseman in Anaheim Ducks/Mighty Ducks of Anaheim history who could skate so well, defend so intelligently, play so poised, and effortlessly dice through opposing defensive structures while maintaining possession: Scott Niedermayer.

LaCombe still has a long journey ahead of him if he’s to achieve such lofty standards, however, and he remains far from a finished product. He can still often toe the line between poised and casual. Though instances of him holding on to and losing pucks against a heavy pursuit have diminished as the season progressed.

He’s also been somewhat of a liability in front of his own crease at times through the regular season and these playoffs. He’s made quality judgments on when to front on perimeter shots and get key blocks, but when he’s forced to box out, clear a sightline for his goaltender, or find a rebound in front, he’s come up short on occasion.

“I think there’s always things you have to learn and grow,” LaCombe said on Saturday. “You see other players around the league, and you see what they can do, and even on your own team, too. There’s always details you can pick up, and there are so many things in my game I want to improve and work on. So, I don’t think there’s ever a point where you’re a finished product.”

Given his vast progression through the first three years of his NHL career, one would likely be foolish to bet against LaCombe rounding out his game and continuing his evolution into one of the NHL’s truly elite defensemen.

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