{"id":436307,"date":"2026-08-18T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436307\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:24:08","slug":"cutter-gauthier-rejects-ducks-latest-offer-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436307\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutter Gauthier Rejects Ducks Latest Offer \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day after it was revealed that the Ottawa Senators and Drake Batherson<\/a> aren\u2019t having the smoothest extension negotiations<\/a>, it appears a similar situation is unfolding with the Anaheim Ducks. As first reported by Paul Sheehan of the NHL Network<\/a>, and now backed up by other outlets, restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier<\/a> has rejected a four-year, $52MM ($13MM AAV) contract offer from the Ducks.<\/p>\n

In any case, it\u2019s an intriguing situation to keep tabs on. As the Ducks\u2019 leading scorer from last season, Gauthier is looking to parlay the other big-ticket contracts signed this summer into his own payday. Several significant cap hits were awarded this summer, especially to the upcoming NHL superstars. Macklin Celebrini<\/a> of the San Jose Sharks signed a new extension worth $18.8MM per season; Connor Bedard<\/a> of the Chicago Blackhawks signed for $15MM, and Gauthier\u2019s teammate, Leo Carlsson<\/a>, signed for $18MM a year.<\/p>\n

Objectively, Gauthier\u2019s situation is not really comparable to Carlsson\u2019s. Carlsson had arbitration rights, which Gauthier does not, and he used that to sign an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, effectively forcing the Ducks\u2019 hand into signing a contract they otherwise wouldn\u2019t have. Since Gauthier doesn\u2019t have arbitration rights, his only option is to re-sign with Anaheim or risk losing the entire 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a situation where both sides are having a delicate dance with leverage. If Gauthier doesn\u2019t sign a deal with the Ducks before December 1st, he\u2019ll 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\u2019s not rocket science to ascertain that any salary is better than no salary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Still, Gauthier isn\u2019t without his leverage, either. Anaheim not only reached the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2018, but they also defeated the back-to-back Western Conference champions in the first round. In Round Two, they challenged the eventual Western Conference champions, taking them to six games. Since the Ducks are looking to keep the good times rolling, it\u2019s unlikely that Anaheim would be willing to stomach not having a forward coming off a 40-goal season.<\/p>\n

It remains uncertain what Gauthier and his representation seek in his next deal. Anaheim only has approximately $9MM in cap space heading into the 2026-27 season, so it\u2019s already evident they\u2019re willing to push the envelope and give themselves more work to do to retain Gauthier.<\/p>\n

While not entirely similar to Carlsson\u2019s case, Gauthier may argue that the Ducks opted to sign Carlsson at $18MM per year rather than recouping four consecutive first-round picks in exchange for his services. Considering that he outscored Carlsson last season, it\u2019s reasonable to think Gauthier could command slightly more than $13MM per year with that argument. Moreover, if Anaheim had signed Gauthier for $13MM a year, they would have been in a position to trade either Alex Killorn<\/a> or Chris Kreider<\/a>. Trading one of these players would then provide the Ducks with enough salary cap space to sign Gauthier to a yearly contract ranging from $14MM to $15MM.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, the Ducks could rightfully argue that an offer sheet is not the same process as negotiating internally, which it isn\u2019t. Anaheim could point to Bedard\u2019s extension with the Blackhawks as the best comparable from their perspective. Despite suffering through injuries and arguably playing on a worse team than Gauthier, Bedard has outscored Gauthier by nearly 30 points over the past two years, despite playing in seven fewer games. Additionally, Bedard is two years younger than Gauthier. Using that argument, paying Gauthier $13MM per season is reasonable.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it\u2019s yet another negotiation indicating the changing of the guard in the NHL. For better or worse, depending on who you ask, younger players are being much more aggressive in contract negotiations, despite their perceived leverage, and for the most part, the tactic has been working out for them.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day after it was revealed that the Ottawa Senators and Drake Batherson aren\u2019t having the smoothest extension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,1718,46268],"class_list":["post-436307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-cutter-gauthier","tag-newsstand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}