Source: Entertainment Weekly

Joshua Jackson dressed the part for his return to the world of The Mighty Ducks, donning an orange Anaheim Ducks jersey with “Conway” on the back as he announced the team’s first-round pick at the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday.

“It’s been a while since I wore 96,” Jackson said on NHL Tonight. “So it’s nice to have it back on.”

Jackson, who played Charlie Conway in the Mighty Ducks trilogy, reunited with co-star Marguerite Moreau (Connie Moreau) to introduce center Roger McQueen as the Ducks’ first pick—10th overall—in Los Angeles.

The original 1992 Mighty Ducks film inspired Disney to found an NHL team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, in 1993. Now called the Anaheim Ducks, the franchise remains a unique bridge between Hollywood and hockey.

At 47, Jackson reflected on his unexpected role in that legacy: “None of us had any idea what we were doing back then, and we couldn’t have dreamed this would still mean something all these years later.”

Before the draft, Jackson joked that none of the incoming players had been born when the original film premiered—some not even when the third installment released in 1996. McQueen, for example, was born in 2006.

Though Jackson didn’t appear in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Disney+ series, his co-star Moreau did. Still, hockey has remained part of Jackson’s life. “Until I was in my 30s, I wouldn’t touch the [Stanley] Cup—just in case,” he admitted.

He once dreamed of being drafted himself, but he’s embraced the symbolic role. “To be part of making somebody’s dream come true—wearing the jersey again—feels pretty good,” he said. “It’s a small brick in the wall of the game’s legacy.”

Jackson’s recent ABC drama Doctor Odyssey was canceled after one season. Moreau, meanwhile, appeared in four episodes of Max’s The Pitt.

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