Sean Farrell, the 24-year-old Milton native who starred at Harvard, has a new NHL home. The Anaheim Ducks acquired the forward from the Montreal Canadiens on Monday in a one-for-one swap for Sasha Pastujov, then signed Farrell to a one-year, two-way contract the next day.
A fresh crack at cracking a roster.
The move gives Farrell a genuine shot at sticking on an NHL roster after spending nearly all of his pro career logging minutes in the AHL — a chance for a fresh start after being stuck behind Montreal's depth chart.
The path that got him here.
Montreal drafted Farrell 124th overall in 2020 out of the USHL's Chicago Steel, where he'd already lit the lamp 29 times for 101 points in 53 games. At Harvard, he kept producing at an elite clip — 30 goals, 81 points in 58 games — helping the Crimson to back-to-back ECAC championships and two NCAA Tournament berths. He was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Year as a sophomore and blazed through his economics degree in just three years.
Farrell signed his entry-level deal with the Canadiens in March 2023 and made his NHL debut two days later, scoring his first NHL goal on his very first shot against the Panthers. But that six-game cup of coffee was the extent of his time in Montreal's lineup.
A strong finish in the minors that couldn't earn a call-up.
Farrell spent the bulk of his pro career with the Laval Rocket, Montreal's AHL affiliate, racking up 46 goals and 125 points across 186 games. His 2025-26 season was his best yet — 17 goals, 53 points in 72 games — but as Pro Hockey Rumors put it, Farrell "received few opportunities with the Canadiens and wasn't likely to anytime soon."
Where it all started: Milton youth hockey.
Long before Montreal or Anaheim, Farrell laced up for eight years with the Minuteman Flames, later calling a league championship his most memorable youth hockey moment. He left home at just 15 for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Michigan, then skated for the Chicago Steel before landing at Harvard. His father, Bill Farrell, a former Yale baseball and football player, reflected on watching his son leave so young in a 2019 interview with the Hopkinton Independent: "It's been an honor, in a word. It's been hard, he went away at 15 and that's definitely unusual, especially in our family. But it was 100 percent his decision."
Farrell also suited up for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, potting a hat trick in his Olympic debut to power an 8-0 win over China.
The trade, by the numbers.
The Ducks announced the deal on July 27 and confirmed the signing the following day. Both Farrell and Pastujov entered the offseason as restricted free agents without deals for 2026-27. Pastujov, Anaheim's 66th overall pick in 2021, posted 48 goals and 125 points in 160 AHL games with the San Diego Gulls — a straight-up swap of two players looking for a new opportunity to break through.
