- The Hockey News named Alex Killorn, Chris Kreider and Frank Vatrano as Ducks trade candidates
- Anaheim sits at $9.07 million in cap space with Cutter Gauthier still unsigned
- Read below for what each trade would do to the Ducks’ cap sheet
The Anaheim Ducks have a 41-goal scorer without a contract and nowhere near enough room to pay him.
Cutter Gauthier is still an unsigned restricted free agent, and Andre Leal of The Hockey News put names to the contracts standing in the way. Alex Killorn, Chris Kreider and Frank Vatrano are the three veterans Anaheim could move to make the math work.
PuckPedia projects the Ducks with $9,073,395 in space against the $104 million ceiling. Speculation around Gauthier’s next deal has landed somewhere between $14 million and $15 million a year.
Matching Philadelphia’s offer sheet on Leo Carlsson is what created the squeeze. Five years at $18 million per season went on the books in one afternoon, and Pat Verbeek’s cushion went with it.
Killorn is the tidiest cut on paper. He turns 37 in September, he’s in the last year of his deal at a $6.25 million cap hit, and he carries a 15-team no-trade list.
He still gave Anaheim 15 goals and 33 points in a full 82 games, then nine more points in 12 playoff games. Dumping the contract anyway puts the Ducks just above $15.25 million.
Kreider costs a bit more and gave them a bit more. His first year in Anaheim produced 22 goals and 50 points in 75 games, and his $6.5 million is also expiring with the same 15-team protection. That one gets the Ducks to $15.5 million.
Vatrano is the awkward one. He has two years left at $4.571 million, and a fractured shoulder held him to five goals and nine points in 50 games. Trading him clears roughly $13.6 million in room and almost certainly brings back the weakest return of the three.
| Player | Cap hit | Term left | Ducks space if dealt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Killorn | $6.25M | 1 year | $15.25M |
| Chris Kreider | $6.5M | 1 year | $15.5M |
| Frank Vatrano | $4.571M | 2 years | $13.6M |
Every one of those moves thins out a roster that has already been stripped down. Jacob Trouba, John Carlson and Radko Gudas are gone, Olen Zellweger and Mason McTavish were traded, and the current blue line reads Jackson LaCombe, Tristan Luneau, Pavel Mintyukov, Nick Jensen, Ian Moore and Tyson Hinds.
Anaheim can exceed the cap by 10 percent during the summer, so putting Gauthier’s signature on a deal today is allowed. Opening night in late September is the real deadline, because that’s when the roster has to fit under $104 million.
Gauthier turned 22 in January and buried 41 goals with 69 points in 76 games, then added 12 points in 12 playoff games. He cannot suit up until the contract is done, and we wrote earlier this month that he could miss the first month of the season.
Verbeek can wait, but the price of waiting is Gauthier sitting in the stands while the Ducks try to prove last spring’s playoff run was not a one-off.
