Salary Cap Deep Dive: Anaheim Ducks

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Pacific Division, first up is the Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks

Current Cap Hit: $68,314.167 (below the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Leo Carlsson (two years, $950K)
G Lukas Dostal (one year, $812.5K)
F Cutter Gauthier (two years, $950K)
D Tristan Luneau (three years, $865K)
F Mason McTavish (one year, $894K)
D Pavel Mintyukov (two years, $918K)
D Olen Zellweger (two years, $844K)

Potential Bonuses:
Carlsson: $3.225MM
Gauthier: $950K
Luneau: $80K
McTavish: $2.5MM
Mintyukov: $800K
Total: $7.555MM (exceeds the 7.5% cap by $955K; that amount counts as a direct charge against the salary cap)

Anaheim took things slow with Carlsson last season, limiting him to just 55 games.  However, he played big minutes in those appearances and is seeing similar ice time early on this year.  That gives him a good chance to meet $1MM of his ‘A’ bonuses while the rest are unlikely.  We’ve seen the price tag for top young centers approach the $8MM mark post-entry-level and at this point, there’s little reason to think Carlsson shouldn’t be in that range as well.  Gauthier is in his first full NHL season after turning pro late last year.  Anaheim has high hopes for him as well although he’s obviously less proven at this point, making a second contract much harder to forecast.  His bonuses are also of the ‘A’ variety and could be achievable depending on the role he carves out for himself.

McTavish is the other young middleman that GM Pat Verbeek will be looking to sign in the relatively near future.  His first two full NHL seasons saw him just surpass the 40-point mark but being the third-overall selection, it’s fair to say that he’s still envisioned as being part of their long-term core.  His numbers at this point come in a bit below Matthew Beniers (who signed for seven years and $50MM on an extension that begins next season).  That would peg a long-term price tag at or just below $7MM (closer to $7.5MM on an eight-year agreement).  Alternatively, if they go with a bridge contract, that type of deal would be closer to $4MM on a two-year pact, $4.5MM or so on a three-year agreement.  He has $850K of ‘A’ bonuses in his deal and reasonably could max out on those with a strong showing this season.

On the back end, Mintyukov is someone they have high hopes for as another high draft pick.  He had a solid rookie campaign and is logging heavy minutes early on this year.  The market for some top blueliners coming off their entry-level deals who aren’t elite offensively has pushed past $8MM recently.  It’s not unfathomable that Mintyukov gets to that level over the next two seasons.  He has a good chance of reaching his ‘A’ bonuses based on his early-season usage.

Luneau missed almost all of last season which doesn’t help from a development perspective but he didn’t burn the first year of his deal either.  For this year, the priority will be simply getting regular game reps which makes projecting his next deal all but impossible at this point.  His bonuses are games-played based so staying healthy will allow him to reach at least most of those.  As for Zellweger, he was dominant at the AHL level last year and held his own in limited minutes.  A bridge agreement is likely for him and with what’s likely to be decent offensive numbers, it should push past at least $2MM.

Dostal has been thrown to the wolves at times but has put up more than respectable numbers over his first couple of NHL seasons.  Is he their starter of the future though?  That’s not a given so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land a bridge deal.  Given the contracts handed out recently to Yaroslav Askarov ($2MM AAV) and Jesper Wallstedt ($2.2MM AAV), Dostal’s contract should come in at a higher rate than that.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

D Brian Dumoulin ($3.15MM, UFA)
F Robby Fabbri ($4MM, UFA)
F Brett Leason ($1.05MM, RFA)
F Isac Lundestrom ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Brock McGinn ($2.75MM, UFA)
D Urho Vaakanainen ($1.1MM, RFA)
G James Reimer ($1MM, UFA)
F Frank Vatrano ($3.65MM, UFA)

Fabbri was picked up from Detroit in a cap-clearing move over the summer which wasn’t necessarily the worst outcome for him as he’ll play a bigger role with the Ducks than he otherwise would have.  Even so, given his long injury history, his next deal should check in closer to the $2.75MM range even though he consistently averages over half a point per game when he’s in the lineup.  Vatrano found another gear offensively last season with 37 goals, positioning himself nicely for the type of long-term deal that has eluded him thus far in his career.  He’ll be in his age-31 year next season so a max-term pact is off the table but five or six years could be doable.  If he can produce at a similar rate this year, that contract should push well past the $6MM mark.

McGinn is a serviceable fourth liner whose contract pays him more than that.  That’s likely to be corrected next summer when his deal should come in around half of this amount.  Lundestrom might be at the end of his rope with Anaheim if things don’t go well this year.  He took a pay cut to avoid being non-tendered this summer and until he can establish himself as a consistent top-nine center, he’ll be hard-pressed to land a sizable increase.  Leason, meanwhile, was non-tendered this summer to avoid arbitration eligibility but returned with a $250K raise in salary.  Another double-digit goal performance this season would help his value and push it closer to the $1.5MM range but he remains a non-tender risk nonetheless.

Dumoulin was also brought in with Seattle needing to clear salary.  His first year away from Pittsburgh wasn’t the greatest although he’ll at least benefit from likely a slightly bigger role in Anaheim.  Even so, his market wasn’t strong last time out and probably isn’t going to be much better barring an improved performance this year.  He could still land something around this price tag but a big raise is unlikely.  Vaakanainen has been more of a depth defender at this point of his career and has already been scratched this season.  He was non-tendered last summer to avoid arbitration rights and probably is heading for a similar outcome this time around, even if he’s worth something around this price point on the open market.

Reimer was picked up off waivers as injury insurance, sparing him from the third-string role he was heading for in Buffalo (at least for the time being).  At 36, he’s going to be going year-to-year moving forward, likely in the lower-end backup or third-string role so this price point is where his next deal should land as well.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Cam Fowler ($6.5MM, UFA)
D Radko Gudas ($4MM, UFA)
F Ross Johnston ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Jackson LaCombe ($925K, RFA)
F Trevor Zegras ($5.75MM, RFA)

Zegras and the Ducks couldn’t work out a long-term deal, settling on this bridge agreement last year.  The first season didn’t go well, to put it lightly as he battled injuries and ineffectiveness.  At this point, it’s hard to project a significant increase for his next contract unless he’s able to get back to his previous 60-point form.  Johnston is a fourth-line enforcer and with a lot of teams not carrying those, that limits his long-term value.  Still, as long as there are at least some teams open to deploying one, another contract around this price should be doable.

Fowler’s value depends on the eye of the beholder.  He’s certainly not a true number one defenseman but he has held that role for Anaheim for several years now and has done relatively well with it.  Given the minutes he covers, his price tag is solid value relative to others in that situation.  But if he was deployed in a more optimal spot (either second or third on the depth chart which is where he’d land on a lot of other teams), the contract moves somewhere between market value and a slight overpayment.  Fowler will be 34 when his next deal starts and if he’s elsewhere in a lesser role at that time, it’s hard to see a raise coming his way.  Instead, another multi-year deal around this price tag (in a higher cap environment) might be where he lands.

The fact that Gudas landed four years at this price point after primarily playing on the third pairing raised some eyebrows but it has worked so far for Anaheim.  The new captain has moved into the top four and handled it relatively well.  Having said that, he’ll be 36 when this deal expires so again, a raise isn’t overly likely.  A two-year deal around this price point could be, however.  LaCombe signed what’s frankly a below-market bridge contract for someone who averaged over 19 minutes a game the year before.  However, he at least secured a one-way salary (which is notable given that he’s still waiver-exempt) while he’ll have arbitration rights next time out.  If he can shoulder a similar workload for the next two years, tripling this price tag could be doable.

Signed Through 2026-27

G John Gibson ($6.4MM, UFA)
F Alex Killorn ($6.25MM, UFA)
F Ryan Strome ($5MM, UFA)

Killorn was a surprise signing in free agency last summer, both in terms of Anaheim getting him and the contract he received.  The idea was to add a quality veteran who could play in the top six and work with the young forward group.  But things didn’t go quite as planned in year one and, already 35, it’s hard to forecast a sharp improvement.  And considering he’ll be entering his age-38 year in 2027-28, this might be his last contract.  Strome hasn’t been able to match the output he had with the Rangers but now has five straight seasons of more than 40 points under his belt.  Given the annual high demand for centers, he could land a similar contract if he was on the open market now so thus far, the Ducks are getting a fair return on his agreement.

It wasn’t that long ago that Gibson was viewed as one of the top goalies in the league with his contract looking like a bargain relative to other top-paid starters.  But that has flipped in recent years.  His save percentage in the past five seasons combined is just .900, a mark that’s below league average.  Having someone below average in that mark making top-ten money isn’t ideal.  It’s possible that a change of scenery could allow him to bounce back to a point but it’s unlikely he’d rebound to a level of play that would make this a team-friendly pact.

Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer

F Troy Terry ($7MM through 2029-30)

Terry is the lone long-term pact given out under Verbeek off the heels of a wildly successful bridge agreement.  His output slipped last season to 20 goals and 54 points which isn’t a great return on this price point but the hope is that as the young core improves, Terry’s output should get a boost as well.  If that happens, they’ll do well with this deal.

Buyouts

None

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Vatrano
Worst Value: Gibson

Looking Ahead

For this season, the cap isn’t a concern for the Ducks.  Even if the prospects maxed out their bonuses – a near-impossible scenario – they’d still have ample flexibility and not face any overage rolling over into 2025-26.  If they have the budget room to work with, Anaheim could be a team to watch for closer to the trade deadline as it pertains to being a facilitator, taking on some money to pick up additional assets.

That flexibility will start to wane over the next few years, however, as their current crop of entry-level deals expire.  McTavish, Carlsson, and Mintyukov all have viable cases for a long-term contract and Gauthier could get there as well.  While the cap will go up over the next few seasons, pricey second contracts for those four players will probably bring them more toward the middle of the pack spending-wise.  With that in mind, that still leaves room for them to try to make a splash next summer as they tried to a few months ago with no success.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.