Anaheim Ducks just matched a massive offer sheet. Now Cutter Gauthier is next, and the price is climbing fast.
The Ducks matched the Leo Carlsson offer sheet this week. That move alone reshapes their entire summer.
They're left with just over $9 million in cap space after writing that check.
And Cutter Gauthier still needs a new contract. He's not a luxury item on this roster. He's the engine.
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Gauthier put up 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games this season, tying for the team lead in game-winning goals with seven.
He kept producing when the games mattered most too, posting 12 points in 12 playoff games this spring.
According to David Pagnotta, the recent chatter has Gauthier's next deal landing around $15 million a year. Some around the league think it could go higher than that.
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Think of it like renovating a kitchen and then finding out the roof needs replacing too. The Carlsson number was the kitchen. Gauthier is the roof.
Pat Verbeek built this core specifically so it wouldn't have to be broken up. That plan gets tested hard now.
Nine million doesn't buy much room when a 22 year old coming off a 69 point season is staring down a market that just reset itself.
Gauthier scored 41 times despite a minus-2 rating, the kind of gaudy offense-over-results season that agents love to point at in July.
Joel Quenneville inherited a roster built to score first and defend later. The Ducks finished with 273 goals for and 287 against, a minus-14 differential that says everything about the identity of this team.
Signing Gauthier at anywhere near $15 million locks that identity in for years. It also means less flexibility to fix the goals-against problem that's been dragging Anaheim down.
There's no indication yet on term length or when a deal gets done. But the number being floated is not a rumor anyone in that front office can afford to ignore.
Should the Ducks pay Cutter Gauthier $15 million a year or is that too rich for a minus-2 season?
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