Anaheim Ducks

Cutter Gauthier Wants How Much From the Ducks?

It sounds like Cutter Guathier is drawing a line in the sane on an extension with the Aneim Ducks. Now what?

by
NHL Trade Talk
July 18, 2026

The fallout from the Leo Carlsson offer sheet is real. In Philadelphia, the Flyers just spent a combined $62.5 million on Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale. In Anaheim, GM Pat Verbeek is really feeling the pinch and probably isn’t thrilled about it.

According to Keith Yandle on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Cutter Gauthier has reportedly decided he won’t sign for anything less than the $18 million AAV Carlsson just landed on his five-year offer sheet from Philadelphia. The report hasn’t been officially confirmed, but if accurate, it puts Verbeek in a brutal spot: a second $18 million cap hit to hand out, this time to a restricted free agent with real statistical ammunition to back up the ask.

This likely won’t be the number Gauthier signs for. Given he’s a winger and not a center, the expectation is that his hit will come in below Carlsson’s. But, if there’s any truth to this, it shows the mentality of what the Ducks’ stars, or at least Gauthier, are now. Having already worked his way out of one organization, is he really making things this difficult for the team that took him in and is now about to handsomely reward him with a new contract?

This is a “know your leverage” situation. Gauthier actually outproduced Carlsson this past season — 41 goals and 69 points compared to Carlsson’s 29 goals and 67 points. Different age, different contract status, different position, sure. But on raw offensive output alone, Gauthier has a legitimate case that he’s the more productive player right now.

The problem is that leverage doesn’t run on stat lines. As an RFA without arbitration rights working in his favor here, Gauthier doesn’t have the same market forces pushing his price the way an offer sheet did for Carlsson. Still, if he digs in and refuses to sign for less, Anaheim has a problem.

Whether this becomes a genuine standoff or just an opening ask remains to be seen. But for a Ducks front office that should have seen this coming, the Carlsson offer sheet keeps generating expensive problems well after the ink dried.

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