After matching Leo Carlsson's massive five-year offer sheet, the Anaheim Ducks still have work to do. Cutter Gauthier is due for a large raise and remains without a contract. Who are some players that may need to be traded in order to clear cap space for their top goal-scorer?
Cutter Gauthier remains an unsigned RFA with the Anaheim Ducks, and he cannot feature for his team this upcoming season until that's settled.
Part of the hold-up is that the Ducks don't have enough salary cap space to make a fair, long-term deal happen. It's expected that the 22-year-old
Anaheim has $9.07 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.com. They would've had plenty more, but because the Philadelphia Flyers tendered an offer sheet for Leo Carlsson at $18 million per season for the next five years, it ate a large chunk of the salary cap when Anaheim matched it.
Now, instead of GM Pat Verbeek having enough room to extend Carlsson and Gauthier with some change left over to improve the Ducks' defense, he's going to have to make some sacrifices to keep their 41-goal scorer happy.
Here are three Ducks players who could become trade casualties to make room for a Gauthier contract extension.
Alex Killorn, LW
Alex Killorn is undoubtedly at the near end of his NHL career. The veteran left winger will turn 37 before the 2026-27 season begins.
As a two-time Stanley Cup champion, he brings valuable experience to young Ducks core. Even at his age he still has juice left, scoring four goals and nine points in Anaheim's 12 playoff games this year.
But for the good of the team, Verbeek should look to dump his services elsewhere.
Killorn is in the final year of his contract and earns $6.25 million against the salary cap. The Halifax native does have a 15-team no-trade list, but it shouldn't prevent Verbeek from finding him a new home.
If Anaheim got rid of Killorn's contract, the team would have just over $15.25 million in cap space.
Chris Kreider, LW
Chris Kreider's situation is nearly identical to Killorn's. The major differences between the two are that Kreider is over one year younger than Killorn and earns $6.5 million against the cap.
Besides that, they play the same position, are NHL veterans, and even have the same term and trade protection clauses on their contracts.
Kreider did score more points than Killorn in this past regular season, posting 22 goals and 50 points in 75 appearances for the Ducks. Essentially, Verbeek can choose to keep either Kreider or Killorn if he prefers to have at least one of the two rugged left wingers on his roster.
If Kreider becomes the casualty, that would boost the Ducks' salary cap space to $15.5 million.
Frank Vatrano, RW
Another winger makes the list, as Frank Vatrano rounds out these cap-sacrificing candidates.
It's possible that Killorn and Kreider would have to be salary-dump trades considering their age, or at the very least, bring back a weak return from any trade partner.
When it comes to Vatrano, he's younger than those two left wingers at 32. He also earns about $4.6 million per season for the next two years. Despite being the youngest and cheapest of this trio, he also had the worst offensive production this past year.
Vatrano dealt with a severe, fractured shoulder injury that sidelined him for a good chunk of this past season. In the end, he only recorded five goals and nine points in 50 appearances for the Ducks, which is easily the lowest total he has registered in his 11-year career.
Considering his recent offensive trend, Anaheim might be forced to receive a weak return if they were to trade Vatrano.
Nonetheless, if he were to be dealt, removing Vatrano's contract would increase the team's cap space to around $13.6 million.
While removing one of these three players from the books would give the Ducks a greater chance at locking in Gauthier for years into the future, Verbeek may want to consider making more than one move to make it a safe bet.
It's also worth mentioning that even with this Gauthier situation possibly turning Verbeek's hair grey, he still needs to worry about Beckett Sennecke, who will be eligible for a contract extension as of July 1. However, Sennecke's deal doesn't expire until the end of the 2027-28 campaign.
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