San Diego Gulls

	San Diego Gulls
City:	San Diego, California
League:	American Hockey League
Conference:	Western
Division:	Pacific
Founded:	2000
Home Arena:	Pechanga Arena
Colors:	Black, orange, blue, white;
Owner(s):	Henry Samueli & Susan Samueli
General Manager:	Rick Paterson
Head Coach:	Matt McIlvane
Captain:	Chase De Leo
Media:	San Diego Union-Tribune; KGB-AM (San Diego Sports 760); AHL.TV (Internet)
Affiliates:	Anaheim Ducks (NHL); Tulsa Oilers (ECHL)
Franchise history
2000–2015:	Norfolk Admirals
2015–present:	San Diego Gulls

For other uses of the name, please see San Diego Gulls (disambiguation page).

The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the American Hockey League (AHL). The Gulls began play in the 2015–16 season. The team plays their home games at Pechanga Arena. The Gulls are the affiliate team of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks.

History[]

On January 29, 2015, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they would purchase their American Hockey League the Norfolk Admirals, and would be moving the team to San Diego as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team plays at the Pechanga Arena San Diego, the sixth professional hockey team to play there, following the original San Diego Gulls of the WHL (1966–74), the San Diego Mariners of the WHA (1974–1977), the San Diego Hawks/Mariners of the Pacific Hockey League (1977–1979), the second San Diego Gulls of the IHL (1990–1995), and the third San Diego Gulls of the West Coast Hockey League (1995–2003) and later the ECHL (2003–2006).^[1] The team is the fifth hockey team in San Diego to use the "Gulls" name.

The Gulls' name, logo and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015 at HockeyFest.^[2]^[3] HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans.^[4]

The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after the Hershey Bears.^[5]

After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coach Dallas Eakins to the same position with the Ducks.^[6] Former Florida Panthers' head coach Kevin Dineen was hired as the next head coach.^[7]

Approaching the delayed 2020–21 season, due to COVID-19 pandemic considerations, the Gulls announced they would temporarily relocate and play the season out of the Ducks' practice rink, Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, in Irvine, California.^[8] The Gulls finished third in the Pacific Division and lost in the semifinals to the second place Bakersfield Condors in division postseason tournament. After two seasons, the Ducks did not extend head coach Dineen, instead hiring former Laval Rocket head coach Joel Bouchard.^[9] After a lackluster season under Bouchard, the Gulls would hire long-time AHL head coach Roy Sommer to be their fourth head coach in team history. In Sommer's only season as head coach of the Gulls, the Gulls finished with the least amount of points in the AHL. He retired at the end of the season.^[10]^[11]

Matt McIlvane was hired as the new coach for the 2023–24 season, specifically due to his experience of working with younger players.^[11]

Rivalries[]

The Gulls consider the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings' AHL affiliate, to be their main rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night".^[12]^[13] The teams faced each other in the 2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series.^[14] San Diego then defeated the Reign in the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs 3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals.

Season-by-season records[]

Regular season												Playoffs
Season	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	Pts	PCT	GF	GA	Standing	Avg. attendance	Year	Prelims	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	Finals
2015–16	68	39	23	4	2	84	.618	208	200	2nd, Pacific	8,675	2016	—	W, 3–1, TEX	L, 1–4, ONT	—	—
2016–17	68	43	20	3	2	91	.669	221	178	2nd, Pacific	8,876	2017	—	W, 3–2, ONT	L, 1–4, SJ	—	—
2017–18	68	36	28	3	1	76	.559	202	197	5th, Pacific	9,305	2018	—	Did not qualify
2018–19	68	36	24	5	3	80	.588	239	221	3rd, Pacific	9,021	2019	—	W, 3–1, SJ	W, 4–2, BAK	L, 2–4, CHI	—
2019–20	57	30	19	6	2	68	.596	185	164	4th, Pacific	7,582	2020	Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21	44	26	17	1	0	53	.602	153	142	3rd, Pacific	—	2021^{[lower-alpha 1]}	—	BYE	BYE	L, 1–2, BAK	—
2021–22	68	28	33	4	3	63	.463	197	223	7th, Pacific	6,992	2022	L, 0–2, ONT	—	—	—	—
2022–23	72	20	49	2	1	43	.299	180	281	10th, Pacific	6,953	2023	Did not qualify
2023–24	72	26	35	10	1	63	.438	216	245	9th, Pacific	7,249	2024	Did not qualify

↑ Ducks Launch American Hockey League Franchise in San Diego. Anaheim Ducks (January 29, 2015).
↑ Ducks to Hold 'San Diego Hockeyfest' on Sunday, February 22. Anaheim Ducks (January 29, 2015).
↑ The Gulls Are Back In Town. The San Diego Union-Tribune (February 22, 2015).
↑ Loh, Stefanie (February 22, 2015). Hockeyfest a hit, fans welcome SD Gulls. The San Diego Union-Tribune.
↑ AHL teams establish all-time attendance record. American Hockey League.
↑ Chiappelli, Kirstie (June 17, 2019). Ducks hire Dallas Eakins as new head coach.
↑ Ducks Name Kevin Dineen Gulls Head Coach. San Diego Gulls (July 15, 2019).
↑ 28 teams to participate in 2020-21 season. American Hockey League (January 4, 2021).
↑ San Diego Gulls (July 9, 2021). Anaheim Ducks Name Joel Bouchard San Diego Gulls Head Coach. Press release.
↑ Togerson, Derek (April 15, 2023). After 60 Years in Hockey, Gulls Head Coach Roy Sommer Announces Retirement. NBC 7 San Diego.
↑ ^11.0 ^11.1 Carter, Ivan (October 12, 2023). Gulls open hockey season Friday with new coach, roster, expectations. The San Diego Union-Tribune.
↑ Rivalry Night in San Diego. San Diego Gulls (October 15, 2016).
↑ Familiarity Breeds Contempt as Reign, Gulls take Rivalry to Playoffs. Ontario Reign (May 4, 2016).
↑ 2016 Playoffs. American Hockey League.

Players[]

Current roster[]

Updated April 20, 2024.^[1]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
40	United States	Carroll, AndyAndy Carroll	2.0 D	L	27	2023	Northfield, Minnesota	Gulls
–	United States	Codd, DavisDavis Codd	7.0 RW	R	21	2023	Brighton, Michigan	Gulls
39	Canada	Costantini, AnthonyAnthony Costantini	2.0 D	R	22	2023	Hamilton, Ontario	Gulls
36	Canada	Crnkovic, KyleKyle Crnkovic	6.0 LW	L	22	2023	Calgary, Alberta	Gulls
42	United States	Howe, TravisTravis Howe	7.0 RW	R	30	2022	Hull, Massachusetts	Gulls
14	Canada	King, BenBen King	4.0 C	R	22	2022	Vernon, British Columbia	Gulls
41	United States	Lucas, AndrewAndrew Lucas	2.0 D	R	25	2024	Alexandria, Virginia	Gulls
37	United States	Matsushima, EddieEddie Matsushima	4.0 C	L	30	2023	Verona, Wisconsin	Gulls
15	Canada	Myatovic, NicoNico Myatovic	6.0 LW	L	19	2024	Prince George, British Columbia	Gulls
38	Canada	Profaca, LukaLuka Profaca	2.0 D	R	22	2022	Mississauga, Ontario	Gulls
29	Canada	Smith, KonnorKonnor Smith	2.0 D	L	19	2024	Windsor, Ontario	Gulls
30	Czech Republic	Suchanek, TomasTomas Suchanek	1.0 G	L	21	2023	Přerov, Czech Republic	Ducks
6	United States	Wolff, NickNick Wolff	2.0 D	L	28	2023	Eagan, Minnesota	Gulls

Team captains[]

Joe Piskula, 2015–16
Jaycob Megna, 2018–19
Sam Carrick, 2019–21
Greg Pateryn, 2021–22
Chase De Leo, 2022–present

Team records and leaders[]

Scoring leaders[]

These are the top-ten point-scorers for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season.^[2]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Gulls player

Points
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Chase De Leo	C	228	69	117	186	.82
Sam Carrick	C	222	86	95	181	.82
Corey Tropp	RW	205	64	93	157	.76
Kalle Kossila	LW	170	51	90	141	.83
Nikolas Brouillard	D	167	22	70	92	.55
Andrew Agozzino	LW	103	39	52	91	.88
Jacob Perreault	RW	161	32	59	91	.56
Benoit-Olivier Groulx	C	145	39	51	90	.62
Brandon Montour	D	104	25	64	89	.85
Kevin Roy	LW	125	31	57	88	.70

References[]

↑ San Diego Gulls playing roster. American Hockey League (2024-04-20). Retrieved on 2024-04-20.
↑ San Diego Gulls - All Time AHL leaders. hockeydb.com (April 16, 2023). Retrieved on April 16, 2023.

External links[]

Official website

Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "lower-alpha", but no corresponding <references group="lower-alpha"/> tag was found

[ahlsandiego-1] Ducks Launch American Hockey League Franchise in San Diego. Anaheim Ducks (January 29, 2015).

[hockeyfest-2] Ducks to Hold 'San Diego Hockeyfest' on Sunday, February 22. Anaheim Ducks (January 29, 2015).

[The_Gulls_Are_Back_In_Town-3] The Gulls Are Back In Town. The San Diego Union-Tribune (February 22, 2015).

[Hockeyfest_a_Hit-4] Loh, Stefanie (February 22, 2015). Hockeyfest a hit, fans welcome SD Gulls. The San Diego Union-Tribune.

[5] AHL teams establish all-time attendance record. American Hockey League.

[6] Chiappelli, Kirstie (June 17, 2019). Ducks hire Dallas Eakins as new head coach.

[7] Ducks Name Kevin Dineen Gulls Head Coach. San Diego Gulls (July 15, 2019).

[8] 28 teams to participate in 2020-21 season. American Hockey League (January 4, 2021).

[9] San Diego Gulls (July 9, 2021). Anaheim Ducks Name Joel Bouchard San Diego Gulls Head Coach. Press release.

[10] Togerson, Derek (April 15, 2023). After 60 Years in Hockey, Gulls Head Coach Roy Sommer Announces Retirement. NBC 7 San Diego.

[carter-11] 11.0 ^11.1 Carter, Ivan (October 12, 2023). Gulls open hockey season Friday with new coach, roster, expectations. The San Diego Union-Tribune.

[Rivalry_Night_in_San_Diego-12] Rivalry Night in San Diego. San Diego Gulls (October 15, 2016).

[13] Familiarity Breeds Contempt as Reign, Gulls take Rivalry to Playoffs. Ontario Reign (May 4, 2016).

[2016_Playoffs-14] 2016 Playoffs. American Hockey League.

[16] San Diego Gulls playing roster. American Hockey League (2024-04-20). Retrieved on 2024-04-20.

[17] San Diego Gulls - All Time AHL leaders. hockeydb.com (April 16, 2023). Retrieved on April 16, 2023.

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San Diego Gulls
Formerly the Norfolk Admirals - Founded in 2000 - Based in San Diego, California
Franchise	History - Players - All articles
Arenas	Norfolk Scope - Pechanga Arena
Coaches	Trent Yawney - Mike Haviland - Steve Stirling - Darren Rumble - Leigh Mendelson - Jim Johnson - Jon Cooper - Jarrod Skalde - Dallas Eakins - Kevin Dineen - Joel Bouchard
Rivalries	Ontario Reign - San Jose Barracuda - Bakersfield Condors - Stockton Heat
Affiliates	Anaheim Ducks (NHL) - Tulsa Oilers (ECHL)

Anaheim Ducks
Ducks	Franchise · Expansion Draft · Players · Coaches · GMs · Seasons · Records · Draft Picks · Award winners
Arena	Honda Center
Head Coaches	Wilson · Page · Hartsburg · Charron · Murray · Babcock · Carlyle · Boudreau · Carlyle · Eakins
Titles	Pacific Division titles: 2007 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 Western Conference Championships: 2003 · 2007 · 2014 · 2015 Stanley Cups: 2007
Affiliates	Syracuse Crunch (AHL) Bakersfield Condors (ECHL)
Rivals	Los Angeles Kings · San Jose Sharks · Detroit Red Wings · Edmonton Oilers
Mighty Ducks (1993–2006)	1993–94 · 1994–95 · 1995–96 · 1996–97 · 1997–98 · 1998–99 · 1999–00 · 2000–01 · 2001–02 · 2002–03 · 2003–04 · 2004–05 · 2005–06
Ducks (2006–present)	2006–07 · 2007–08 · 2008–09 · 2009–10 · 2010–11 · 2011–12 · 2012–13 · 2013–14 · 2014–15 · 2015–16 · 2016–17 · 2017–18 · 2018–19
Bold indicates Stanley Cup