Kreider termination gives Ducks more flexibility amidst Gauthier negotiations
General manager Pat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks were put into a bind earlier this summer when the Philadelphia Flyers signed Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $90-million offer sheet.
After a mini spending spree on July 1 and matching the offer to retain their franchise center, the Ducks were down to just about $9 million in salary cap space while still needing to sign another restricted free agent in Cutter Gauthier, who would cost considerably more than $9 million coming off a 41-goal season.
That meant a highly-priced veteran would have to find his way off the Ducks’ roster one way or another before the start of the season, and a resolution finally came Wednesday when Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Ducks were placing Chris Kreider on waivers for the purposes of mutually agreed upon contract termination.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed the decision to move on from Kreider and what it could signal about the status of the negotiations with Gauthier.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s kick off the show with some breaking news from Elliotte Friedman, Hutts. The Anaheim Ducks are placing Chris Kreider on waivers for the purposes of a mutual contract termination. Kreider had one more year on his deal with a $6.5 million cap hit, now one financial aspect of this is that Kreider after getting a signing bonus on July 1 is only due $4 million for the upcoming season, but that still means Chris Kreider is walking away from $4 million with this decision.
Carter Hutton: More importantly, what does this do for the Anaheim Ducks now, right? They’ve been talking about trying to get money off the books. The Cutter Gauthier issue, where this goes on, and I think for the Anaheim Ducks and their future and the guys that they see in it, they needed to make this move, and Chris Kreider was a guy who wasn’t going to be that impact player any more for them. He helped in the culture building, the leadership role he was in.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Everyone’s starting to think and point the finger at this must mean a Cutter Gauthier contract is imminent. The Anaheim Ducks right now have $9.07 million in cap space with 12 forwards, 7 defensemen and 3 goalies on their roster… This Chris Kreider move is going to free up $6.5 million, so with Kreider and Brossoit off the roster, that’s $7.6, you add that to the $9.07, we’re talking about over $16.5 million, which you would assume is enough to get a Cutter Gauthier deal done.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…
