Cutter Gauthier, to no one’s surprise, is set to receive the biggest bag of remaining RFAs this offseason. According to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, among the big three current contract negotiations of Adam Fantilli, Drake Batherson and Gauthier, he believes Gauthier will get the most of the three, as he’s heard the Ducks have made progress on a deal and that with all the trouble they’ve had through from a cap hit situation this offseason, they’re ‘motivated to get it done.’ Further to this, Pierre LeBrun says that there is substantial progress in talks between both sides.
That trouble has included a Taylor Swift-type of summer, cruel. They found that Troy Terry will miss the first few months of this season, then Verbeek traded away John Carlson and captain Radko Gudas, and lost Jacob Trouba to the neighboring Sharks, overall a vital blow to the veteran core Anaheim boasted.
In more news, they also dealt away young center Mason McTavish to St. Louis and Olen Zellweger to Buffalo. On top of all that, thanks to the Leo Carlsson offer sheet courtesy of Flyers GM Daniel Briere and paying Pavel Mintyukov, the Ducks then had to release Chris Kreider to open up their books.
Why? Well, in the midst of all that turmoil, if you’re still up to speed, Gauthier rejected a four-year, $52MM ($13MM AAV) contract offer from the Ducks.
A deal that was a substantial pay increase from his AFP Analytics projection of around seven years at $8.8MM annually. That came at a time when Carlsson was also projected to receive around $11.5MM on his long-term deal, but given the spike in paydays this offseason, those numbers have been put to bed.
After all that, Anaheim is paying 54% of its current cap hit, around $56MM, to just 11 forwards; nearly $5.1MM paid per forward. That number comes without Gauthier signed, and yet, the Ducks freed up $15.5MM all because of it.
Of note, Gauthier doesn’t have rights to an offer sheet; his only option is to re-sign with Anaheim or risk losing out on playing the entire 2026-27 season. If Gauthier doesn’t sign a deal with the Ducks before December 1st, he’ll be ineligible to play for the remainder of the 2026-27 season and the playoffs, even if he signs a contract with the Ducks after that date.
It’s not without reason for Gauthier to request a pay increase that he rightfully deserves, especially after seeing how his RFA counterparts are getting their dough, but the Ducks should’ve seen this coming. The 22-year-old finished his 2025-26 scoring 41 goals for 69 points in 76 games, adding 12 points in 12 playoff games.
Since his NHL debut season in 2024-25, Gauthier leads the team in scoring with 113 points, one over Carlsson across that span. More to come.