Sept. 10th: As expected, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that Kreider has made it through waivers unscathed.
This allows the Ducks to formally terminate the remaining year and $6.5MM remaining on his contract, making Kreider an unrestricted free agent.
Sept. 9th: The Anaheim Ducks are expected to place veteran forward Chris Kreider on waivers for the purpose of contract termination, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Kreider has approved the move. Friedman writes “according to several sources, Kreider has indicated he desires to return east, closer to family where he spent the first 13 years of his career, and will not report if claimed somewhere he prefers not to play.” Kreider has one season remaining on his $6.5MM AAV contract.
The Ducks are facing a cap crunch as the result of their signing of Leo Carlsson to a five-year contract extension carrying an $18MM cap hit. Carlsson originally signed that deal as an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Ducks matched the contract rather than lose their young No. 1 center for only a handful of first-round picks as compensation.
Their decision to match Carlsson’s offer sheet was entirely defensible, and most would argue that it was the correct move to make for GM Pat Verbeek given the circumstances. But the offer sheet saga was not without its side effects.
Breakout second-year winger Cutter Gauthier remains an unsigned RFA, and his price tag has almost certainly risen compared to where it was even six months ago. It was reported by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that the $15MM AAV contract extension Connor Bedard signed with the Chicago Blackhawks this summer is being pointed to as a comparable for Gauthier.
At the moment, Anaheim does not have the cap space to sign Gauthier at that rate. According to PuckPedia, the team possesses just over $9MM in cap space.
To reach the $15MM number, they would need to create almost $6MM in cap space – which almost exactly aligns with the cap hit that would be cleared off their books if Kreider’s deal is terminated.
That the Ducks are going the contract termination route comes as something of a surprise, as one might naturally assume a trade to be the more simple route for both the player and team. Kreider and the Ducks could simply work together to reach an agreement on a trade with a team Kreider is happy to play for.
But according to Friedman, Verbeek “did not like the trade options presented to him, specifically “sweeteners” he might have to include to get it done.”
So, rather than sacrifice additional assets to get Kreider off their books, the Ducks have reached an agreement with the player to end his contract a year early. That will free Kreider to sign with another team before the start of training camp.
It would benefit any team interested in Kreider to sign him as a free agent rather than claim him.
Kreider carries a $6.5MM cap hit, but his base salary is just $4MM. If Kreider doesn’t want to take a pay cut for the season, he could sign a deal at a $4MM cap hit and still receive the same salary as he would if he was claimed, albeit with $2.5MM in salary cap savings to his team.
Now 35 years old, Kreider makes a compelling late addition to the free agent market. The veteran forward scored 22 goals and 50 points last season, his first in Anaheim, and is just two years removed from scoring 39 goals for the New York Rangers.
There are few teams in the Eastern Conference who wouldn’t stand to improve by adding the former 50-goal scorer. Now, they’ll get the chance to do so in what are entirely unconventional circumstances.