- Anaheim sits under $10M in cap space after the Mintyukov extension and the Carlsson offer sheet
- Cutter Gauthier is still unsigned coming off a 40-goal season
- Read below for how the cap squeeze pushes Gauthier’s price higher
The Anaheim Ducks are running low on money, and Cutter Gauthier still needs a new deal.
Anaheim re-signed defenseman Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year extension worth $7.2 million a year on Sunday. Stack that on top of the five-year, $18 million offer sheet the Flyers handed Leo Carlsson, and the Ducks are down to $9.97 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.
Philadelphia tendered the Carlsson offer sheet on July 3. Anaheim has seven days to match, and if it walks away, the Flyers cough up four first-round picks. The $18 million average would make Carlsson the highest-paid player in the league, past Leon Draisaitl’s $14 million.
Gauthier is the name that makes the math ugly. The 22-year-old winger just scored 40 goals, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to hit that mark, joining Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya and Corey Perry.
Take a look at what he did this season:
Gauthier can’t be poached the way Carlsson and Mintyukov were. He doesn’t have the years of service to qualify for an offer sheet, so Pat Verbeek controls his rights outright.
The problem is the number. Gauthier’s $950,000 entry-level cap hit is up, and a 22-year-old coming off 40 goals isn’t signing a cheap bridge. Carlsson’s deal only raised the bar for what his camp will ask.
Verbeek has a week to settle the Carlsson question. Gauthier’s contract is the one that has to fit around whatever’s left.
