Ducks prospect Roger McQueen nets first pro goal in Gulls loss

Roger McQueen’s first pro goal was more than a box-score line. It was the kind of early checkpoint that tells a team its top prospect can already turn a half-step of space into damage against AHL competition, even in a 5-3 loss to Bakersfield.

The San Diego Gulls center opened the scoring just 1:17 into the first period at Dignity Health Arena, finishing his first professional and first career AHL goal before the Condors had settled in. The league’s play-by-play credited the goal to McQueen off assists from Matthew Phillips and Sam Colangelo against Bakersfield goalie Calvin Pickard, and the moment quickly traveled beyond the building through highlight clips from the AHL, the Gulls and Yahoo Sports.

What stood out in the sequence was how little McQueen needed. He did not have to overhandle the puck or force a highlight-reel move. He got to his spot early, took the chance in stride and beat Pickard with the sort of quick, decisive finish that can survive at this level. That is the real value of a first pro goal: not just that it went in, but that the mechanics behind it looked transferable.

McQueen arrived in San Diego with the usual top-prospect scrutiny after the Ducks selected him 10th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft and signed him to an amateur tryout on April 1. Before turning pro, he had just finished a freshman season at Providence College that earned him Hockey East Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team. He posted 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in 36 games, added a plus-5 rating and 45 penalty minutes, and won 55.1 percent of his faceoffs while finishing eighth nationally among rookies in faceoff wins with 313.

The Gulls have not eased him in slowly, and that matters. McQueen has points in his first three professional games, a goal plus two earlier assists, which is the sort of start that keeps a prospect at the center of the Ducks’ development conversation rather than on the periphery of it. San Diego’s scoring also got support from Justin Bailey, who netted his 23rd goal of the season and has eight of those against Bakersfield, and Sasha Pastujov, who scored late. Calle Clang made 28 saves on 33 shots, while Phillips and Colangelo each finished with two assists.

The next test is the one coaches always care about most: details away from the puck, shift-to-shift consistency and a role that holds up on special teams. The goal announced the arrival. The grind will decide how fast McQueen keeps climbing.