Cutter Gauthier is not showing up in Anaheim, and it's not a vacation. The Ducks' restricted free agent is holding out over a contract dispute that's escalated into a full-blown standoff, and Daily Faceoff is now flagging his next deal as one of the league's biggest unresolved offseason moves.
Daily Faceoff's Jonny and Colby break down the holdout with Sean Shapiro, plus what it could mean for a potential Dylan Larkin trade domino.
Here's the money part: Gauthier reportedly turned down a 4-year, $52 million offer from Anaheim, worth $13 million a year. That's not nothing, but it's also not what Gauthier's camp seems to want. He led the Ducks with 41 goals and 69 points last season, outscoring teammate Leo Carlsson, who's locked in at $18 million annually. If Gauthier's side is using that as the comp, a number closer to $15 million a year starts to make sense — and that's a gap Anaheim's roughly $9 million in cap space can't easily close without moving money elsewhere.
That's the crux of the leverage problem. Gauthier can't sign an offer sheet with another team, so his real options are limited: take what Anaheim's offering or keep sitting out. But sitting out has a real cost attached — if the two sides can't get a deal done before December 1, he's ineligible to play for the rest of the 2026-27 season, playoffs included. That deadline is why this holdout carries more weight than a typical summer staredown.
Daily Faceoff Live runs down the biggest offseason moves still hanging out there, with Gauthier's next contract topping the list.
For a team that just watched Carlsson get paid like a franchise centerpiece, letting its actual leading goal-scorer sit out camp is a rough look. Anaheim's front office has to figure out how to clear enough cap room to get Gauthier's number where he wants it, likely by moving a veteran contract, without blowing up the cap sheet they just built around Carlsson.
For now, camp opens without one of the Ducks' best players in the building, and the clock toward December 1 is the number that actually matters. Expect more reporting on trade candidates and cap maneuvering out of Anaheim as both sides wait the other out.