Ducks extend Gulls GM Rick Paterson on multi-year deal

The Anaheim Ducks agreed to a multi-year contract extension with San Diego Gulls general manager Rick Paterson, keeping the top of their AHL affiliate’s front office in place. The move tied San Diego’s day-to-day roster work even more closely to Anaheim’s long-term blueprint.

The Ducks framed Paterson’s role as part of a larger organizational plan, saying he has “established an identity in San Diego that reflects our own in Anaheim and built a successful pipeline” between the two clubs. That is the real message behind the extension: the Gulls are not operating as a separate island, but as an extension of Anaheim’s player-development system.

That matters because the San Diego Gulls are the Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, and Paterson sits at the center of how prospects are developed, sorted and moved up the chain. His contract gives Anaheim continuity in the place where young players learn the structure they will be asked to play when they reach the NHL, from roster construction in San Diego to the timing of call-ups that affect depth in Anaheim.

The extension also fit into a broader run of organizational stability. Anaheim later extended Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane, and the Ducks gave general manager Pat Verbeek a multi-year contract extension on April 10, 2026. Verbeek has overseen most of the franchise’s rebuild and much of the current roster, with Anaheim moving toward the end of a seven-year playoff drought.

Taken together, those moves point to a more unified system entering the offseason. Paterson remains in charge of the affiliate that feeds Anaheim, McIlvane stayed in place behind the bench in San Diego, and Verbeek kept his post at the top of the NHL operation. For a club trying to turn prospects into NHL-ready pieces, the Ducks chose continuity at every level that matters.