The Anaheim Ducks’ salary-cap situation got thrown into chaos this offseason when the Philadelphia Flyers signed center Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet, which was then followed by the threat of an offer sheet for defenseman Pavel Mintyukov.
Between the two of them, the Ducks have over $25 million in cap space invested and still have to get Cutter Gauthier re-signed.
They have just $9 million in salary-cap space to do it. That is almost certainly not going to be enough given where contracts around the league are going this offseason and the type of season Gauthier is coming off of with the Ducks.
That almost certainly means somebody is going to have to go.
The most likely trade candidates are Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano.
Vatrano, in theory, would be the easiest to trade simply because he doesn’t have any no-trade protections in his contract. But he is coming off a brutal season, and NHL teams are not usually interested in trading for veteran wingers in their 30s that have term remaining on their contracts. The two years on his deal might be a deterrent for another team, even if the salary cap number ($4.5 million per season) is not that significant.
Killorn could be an option and is coming off a 15-goal season, but I don’t know how much of a market there would be for him given his age (37) and the fact that he makes $6.2 million. That is a situation where Anaheim might have to throw in a sweetener to find a taker.
The 35-year-old is similar to Killorn in terms of salary-cap number ($6.5 million), term remaining (final season of current contract), trade protections (15-team trade list) and age, but there might be a slightly bigger market for him without having to throw in a sweetener.
Kreider is coming off a bounce-back year offensively, scoring 22 goals with 50 total points, and has been a better player more recently. He can still help them, but they are going to have to shed some money somewhere, and he might be the most logical candidate at the moment.