Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks signed a lucrative six-year, $13.5 million contract, putting pressure on the organization and the player to win. Was Gauthier's contract fair, or will they face salary cap trouble?
Cutter Gauthier's six-year, $81 million deal is a big bet on a player the Anaheim Ducks are hoping is still improving. At $13.5 million AAV, he's now the franchise’s second-highest-paid player behind Leo Carlsson, and the price tag reflects both what he showed last season – 41 goals, 69 points, and a 12-point playoff run – and what he might do in the future.
For a 22-year-old who led his team in scoring and helped get Anaheim back into the post-season for the first time since 2018, there’s a lot to like. At the same time, the hope is that this deal – created out of the pressure from the Carlsson offer sheet – isn’t an overpay on potential.
What’s done is done. The deal is signed, and the player is under contract. Now, the question becomes: can he outperform it?
Gauthier took a 21-goal jump from the season prior. As such, there’s a chance he regresses. The good news is that pure goal-scorers with his shot volume and playoff pedigree tend to trend upward, and if Gauthier's post-season performance was a preview rather than a peak, this contract could look like a bargain in three years.
Given that some had speculated his number could be around $15 or $16 million, $13.5 million is starting to look like a reasonable settlement.
This coming season will reveal to the Ducks whether they guessed correctly.
The bigger variable might not be Gauthier's ceiling — it's whether Anaheim's roster around him keeps improving fast enough for the Ducks to make good while both Carlsson and Gauthier are earning huge money on sizeable raises.
2024-25 was the first year that the Ducks started to look like real contenders. Management must have hoped it was the start of something, and that over time, contracts for their top young stars would fall into place as they moved further into the playoffs. The timeline on their window to win has been pushed up dramatically.
Carlsson's five-year, $80 million offer sheet didn't just reset his own value — it reset the market league-wide, and he knows it.
"Players are thanking me," he said, acknowledging the ripple effect his deal set off.
But that ripple hit home first. Anaheim had to terminate Chris Kreider's contract to create room to sign Gauthier, and Carlsson didn't shy away from the cost of that move: "Chris, he's leaving, but he's also really happy for me as well. It's a hard business."
So should the Ducks be concerned about their cap? Cautiously, yes. Locking up Carlsson and Gauthier long-term is good news. But to do it at the price they were forced to pay is a problem. It leaves very little margin for error and, while there’s time, four years can fly by. It won’t be long before both players are back at the table negotiating. And, based on the way this summer went, is there any chance either takes a deal on their next contract? It’s doubtful.
The Ducks didn't just pay for what Gauthier is — they paid for what they believe he's becoming. They think they know what that is, but they can’t be entirely sure. The same goes for Carlsson, who looks like the real deal, but hasn’t posted a season with more than 67 points.
If both keep upping their production, these deals become little more than salary cap headaches. If they can't keep pace, Anaheim may be staring down a cap hole they'll struggle to climb out of.
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