Cutter Gauthier might be setting his price at exactly what Leo Carlsson makes, and that's a real problem for the Anaheim Ducks.
Keith Yandle said on Spittin' Chiclets this week he heard Gauthier isn't willing to accept anything less than Carlsson's $18,000,000 AAV.
Gauthier put up 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games this season, numbers that put him firmly in the conversation as one of the league's rising young wingers.
Carlsson, for context, just had Anaheim match an $18,000,000 offer sheet from Philadelphia to keep him after a 67-point breakout season of his own.
Anaheim finished 43-33-6 for 92 points this season, 17th overall, right on the edge of real playoff contention with a young core still developing.
Gauthier was even better down the stretch, posting 9 points over his last 10 games and adding 12 points in 12 playoff games this past postseason.
Yandle didn't hold back on the podcast, framing the number as the kind of ask that changes an entire negotiation overnight.
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Why matching Carlsson's cap hit strains Anaheim's books
Carlsson's deal already locks in $18,000,000 annually for the next five years, and matching that number for Gauthier would put two forwards at a combined $36,000,000 against the cap.
Gauthier currently sits on a $950,000 entry-level deal, so any jump to $18,000,000 would be one of the largest single-year raises in recent memory.
Anaheim matched Carlsson's number because an offer sheet forced their hand, with no real choice in the matter.
Voluntarily setting that same price for a second player is a completely different kind of risk, and not one every front office would take on willingly.
GM Pat Verbeek hasn't commented on the number publicly.
Whether Gauthier actually stays a Duck long term likely comes down to just how firm that number really is behind closed doors.
Whether Gauthier actually holds that line, or whether this stays a podcast rumor, is still very much up in the air.
Should the Ducks pay Cutter Gauthier the same $18 million as Leo Carlsson?
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