The Ducks Could Weaken Their Roster for Cutter Gauthier

Vincent Larue
The Ducks Could Weaken Their Roster for Cutter Gauthier
Credit: Capture d'écran | X

The Ducks have decided to bet big on their young core.

Very big, in fact.

After matching the hostile $18 million-a-year offer made to Leo Carlsson, Anaheim must now find a way to reach an agreement with Cutter Gauthier.

The young forward just had a 41-goal season, and all signs point to him also being in line for a significant pay raise.

The problem?

The Ducks currently have just over $9 million in cap space.

According to Andre Leal of The Hockey News, Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn, and Frank Vatrano could therefore become trade candidates to free up cap space. The first two will earn $6.25 million and $6.5 million this season, while Vatrano accounts for approximately $4.6 million against the cap.

On paper, that would give Pat Verbeek some breathing room.

On the ice, it's a different story.

Because Anaheim has already lost a lot of key players since the end of last season.

Jacob Trouba, John Carlson, and Radko Gudas are no longer with the team. Olen Zellweger and Mason McTavish have also been traded.

The defense, in particular, is likely to look completely different.

The Ducks are very likely to start the season with Jackson LaCombe, Tristan Luneau, Pavel Mintyukov, Ian Moore, Tyson Hinds, and Nick Jensen as their defensive corps.

Obviously, this is just a projection, and the lineup could still change before the season starts.

But, let's just say it doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

There's a lot of youth and potential in this group, but a tremendous amount of experience has left Anaheim in just a few months.

So the Ducks are already taking a big gamble with their defensive corps.

That's what makes Gauthier's situation even more interesting.

Trading Kreider, Killorn, or Vatrano now might help solve part of the financial puzzle, but it would remove yet another veteran from a lineup that has already changed significantly.

Anaheim wants to build around Carlsson, Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, and its other young players.

It's hard to criticize this long-term vision.

But they still need to be able to do better than last season, and I have a hard time believing that will happen.

By constantly removing pieces from around its young stars, Anaheim needs to be careful not to solve one problem by creating another.


In a nutshell

– When things go wrong.

– Enjoy the read.

– Bad news.

– Stay tuned.

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