How Can the Ducks Afford Cutter Gauthier?

He led the team in goals (41) and points (69) last season and blossomed into an incredibly skillful player. He operated at a point-per-game clip in the playoffs, scoring four goals and tallying eight assists. Rarely does a game go by where he does not find himself on the scoresheet, and he has become the team’s strongest offensive weapon.

His presence in Anaheim is invaluable, and the Ducks will need to do whatever they can to lock him up. However, they have just over $9 million in cap space remaining. After seeing a comparable teammate sign a jaw-droppingly high-value contract, Gauthier is unlikely to accept a lowball offer for the sake of the team.

Roster Shuffling

How will Verbeek and the front office cut costs to make space for one of their most crucial players? Three names have been floating around as potential skaters to move: Frank Vatrano, Alex Killorn, and Chris Kreider. It is abundantly clear that at least one must go to offer Gauthier what he is worth. The organization has a tough call to make.

Frank Vatrano

Vatrano is one of the more obvious choices of players to move for cap space. He is currently on year two of a three-year contract with an AAV of $4.57 million. His performance last season was lackluster at best. While he did spend some time away from the ice with an injury, he still played 50 games but registered just nine points.

He has seen a major decline in his offensive abilities. In 2023-24, he had a 60-point campaign, and followed it up with 45 points in 2024-25. He does not operate as a physical, shutdown-style player, either–he registered just 28 hits last season. The team could free up some cap space for Gauthier and make room for a more apt bottom-six player by pawning off Vatrano.

Alex Killorn

Veteran forward Killorn is in the final year of his contract that carries an AAV of $6.25 million. Though he was a mid-level player last season, he often played on the first line, whereas high-scoring Gauthier tended to play on the third line. Moving the veteran would not only add a large chunk of change to the team’s cap space, but it would also create a well-deserved first-line spot for the younger forward.

Killorn came to the Ducks fresh off a 64-point season with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022-23, but has not lived up to that performance in the three seasons since. At nearly 37 years old, he is visibly slowing down and losing his offensive prowess as he begins to age out of the sport. The team also looks to be building up a younger forward core to bolster their future, and Killorn does not fit that mold.

Last season was his lowest performance with the team– 33 points in 82 games. It would be unlikely that the team would re-sign him after this season anyway, but making space for Gauthier could be a viable reason for Anaheim to offload his contract early.

Chris Kreider

Another veteran whose movement could help with contract negotiations is Kreider. The forward is also in the final year of a contract worth $6.5 million annually. Pawning him off would free up the most cap space of the three, and the team would be able to offer Gauthier roughly $15 million.

Of the three potential candidates for movement, Kreider is the highest-performing. Last season, his first with the Ducks, he had a 50-point showing and a 20-point increase from the season prior. Just as quickly as his performance began to lull with the New York Rangers, it began to blossom and thrive in Anaheim.

However, he was inconsistent in his scoring. He tallied just 10 points through December and January and experienced a handful of sizeable goal droughts throughout last season, with his longest being 15 games. At 35 years old, he is also beginning to age out of hockey and will likely begin to see his skills and performance falter. While he is more successful than Vatrano or Killorn, he is still a viable candidate to free up cap space.

The Ducks front office has a lot of work to do and difficult decisions to make before their season begins on Oct. 2. Who will we see leaving Anaheim, and how much will Gauthier be worth in the end? The Hockey Writers will cover the news as it breaks.