Six years, and most of the first one paid up front
The Anaheim Ducks signed Cutter Gauthier to a six-year contract on Tuesday night. Sources told ESPN the deal pays $13.5 million per season.
The structure matters as much as the number. Year one carries an $18.6 million signing bonus on top of $850,000 in salary, which puts close to $19.5 million in Gauthier’s account before he plays a full season under the contract. Anaheim got that done hours before the old collective bargaining agreement expired, and the new rules restrict exactly this kind of front-loading.
“This is a very exciting day for my family and I,” Gauthier said in a team statement. “I’m so pleased to be able to sign long term with the Ducks and be part of what I believe is a great future.”
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Gauthier, 22, led Anaheim last season with 41 goals and 69 points. The Ducks reached the playoffs for the first time in eight years and knocked out the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round, with Gauthier adding 12 points in 12 postseason games.
Philadelphia took him fifth overall in the 2022 draft and never used him. He arrived in Anaheim through a blockbuster trade in 2024 and became a restricted free agent this summer once his entry-level deal ran out. He came out of the U.S. national team development programme and Boston College, where he finished as a Hobey Baker finalist. He was born in Sweden, where his father was playing professionally, and raised in the United States.
The cap bill comes due
Anaheim matched Philadelphia’s offer sheet for Leo Carlsson in July, a move that briefly made Carlsson the highest-paid player in the league at $18 million a season. San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini and Colorado’s Cale Makar have since passed him.
Two contracts that size leave marks. The Ducks waived Chris Kreider last week in what general manager Pat Verbeek called a search for salary cap flexibility. Kreider signed a one-year deal with Montreal and was introduced there on Monday. Anaheim keep the young core and pay for it elsewhere.
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