NHL Rumor Mill – August 18, 2026
In today’s NHL Rumor Mill, we take a look at the salary cap decisions facing the Ducks, Canadiens, Stars, Avalanche, and Sharks.
SPORTSNET: Emily Sadler recently looked at five teams that face intriguing salary-cap decisions.
The Anaheim Ducks have $9 million in cap space after matching the Philadelphia Flyers’ five-year offer sheet ($18 million average annual value) to Leo Carlsson last month. However, they must also re-sign restricted free agent winger Cutter Gauthier, who led the Ducks last season with 41 goals and 69 points.
Anaheim Ducks winger Chris Kreider (NHL Images).
Sadler noted that the Ducks will get cap relief next summer when Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn become unrestricted free agents. However, she wonders what they’ll do in the meantime. Sadler also noted that Gauthier’s new contract could affect winger Beckett Sennecke’s contract extension talks next summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s unlikely the Ducks will get Gauthier signed to anything under $9 million. That means they’ll have to shed some salary to become cap-compliant when the regular season opens next month.
The Ducks can get some short-term cap relief by placing sidelined winger Troy Terry on long-term injury reserve to start the season. However, a cost-cutting trade or two will be necessary once Terry is ready to return to action, possibly involving Kreider or Killorn.
The Montreal Canadiens have young core players Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Lane Hutson signed to affordable long-term contracts under $9 million AAV, and recently signed Ivan Demidov to an eight-year extension worth $9.15 million annually.
Sadler pointed out that the Canadiens will have considerable salary-cap flexibility for the next several years. She wonders if general manager Kent Hughes has a big swing in store after a quiet offseason.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It wasn’t for lack of trying on Hughes’ part. The Canadiens were linked to Toronto Maple Leafs power forward Matthew Knies at the March trade deadline and to Columbus Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko during this summer.
The Canadiens are pursuing a top-six forward, preferably a second-line center to skate alongside Demidov. Hughes is being patient in his quest for the right return, but at some point this season, he’ll likely pull the trigger on a major trade.
The Dallas Stars re-signed Jason Robertson to a one-year, $12 million contract, but it did little to quiet the trade rumors swirling around the 26-year-old winger, who is UFA-eligible next summer.
Sadler noted that the Stars remain above the $104 million salary cap. She also thinks how this season plays out will have “massive implications” for the Stars and Robertson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Robertson reportedly wants to stay in Dallas, and the Stars want to keep him. His one-year contract buys management time to re-sign him next summer when they’ll have more cap space, while giving him another season to prove his worth as a first-line winger.
PuckPedia indicates the Stars are above the cap by $1.36 million. Adam Proteau of The Hockey News suggested trading or demoting defenseman Kyle Capobianco and winger Colin Blackwell to free up the necessary space.
Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar is slated to become a UFA next summer. Sadler wondered what moves they could make to ensure the 27-year-old defenseman remains in Colorado.
The Avalanche have four other contracts set to come off their books next summer, with Brent Burns, Nicolas Roy, Artturi Lehkonen, and Scott Wedgewood also UFA-eligible. While that frees up around $10 million, it creates other roster gaps to be addressed.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Avalanche have over $32 million in projected salary-cap space for 2027-28, with 17 active roster players under contract. However, $20 million of it could go toward re-signing Makar. With salaries on the rise, the remaining $12 million might not be enough to replace their other UFAs adequately.
Sadler noted the expensive extension that Macklin Celebrini recently signed with the San Jose Sharks. His league-leading $18.8 million AAV has set the market for the next wave of young talent. She wondered how much Sharks teammates Will Smith and Michael Misa could command on their next contracts?
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Smith had 45 points in 74 games as a rookie and 59 points in 69 games as a sophomore. He’ll be in line for a substantial raise if he continues to improve, likely over $12 million annually. A strong sophomore campaign for Misa could also put him within that range.
Gauthier turned down a 4 year 13 million per offer yesterday…no one should be surprised at this.
Verbeek should have been fired over the Carlsson offer sheet fiasco, but he just got a multi-year extension as GM in April, so it’s been a tumultuous summer for Duck fans!
Totally agree, I have no idea what number it would have taken last summer but it sure wasn’t 18
True, Kent, the # wasn’t 18 million. But do we know for sure what Carlsson would have signed at before the offer sheet? Remember, the comparators would have been considerably lower.
If Gauthier wants more than 13 million, let him sit or trade him. If he gets anything around that then how much will the Ducks have to pay for Sennecke, and what does two more bloated contracts do to their roster?
@LJ We do know that Carlsson in an interview last summer said that he would sign for 9m. Now is that true, we have no idea, as in he might have but his agent might have advised against it. No matter, Verbeek should have forced the issue, he didnt and now we have this mess
I wish I had seen your post before I replied to Ron, below, Kent.
It has been reported that Cutter Gauthier rejected a 4 year $52 million contract. The Flyers certainly have reset the salary structure in the NHL. With the cost of business skyrocketing, the Ducks might just trade Gauthier for some younger and cheaper talent to balance out there salary cap. Interesting conundrum the Ducks are in.
It’s going to take 15 to sign CG
In what world does a player with 59 points in a season deserve a substantial raise? A bridge deal maybe.
I think both briere and verbeek should be fired over that offer sheet mess
A world where a guy who got 69 points is about to get one (Gauthier).
Carlsson- $18M
Bedard- $15M
Gauthier rejects $13M
Fantilli? why wouldn’t he want more than $13M
Kent Hughes will make a major trade, “helping” either Anaheim or Columbus.
I’ve looked at Columbus’ roster HF30, at who the Habs would want. Marchenko, of course, but what money does he want after this year? As far as I know, a player with an existing contract can’t sign a new one until January of next year so a trade for Marchenko comes with the risk of him being a Hab for one year.
Monahan? Consolation prize with falling stats.
Not seeing anyone from the Ducks for the Habs
What do you have in mind?
Voronkov is the guy I want not Marchenko.
He’s more expensive this year, less expensive to re-sign, produces less but gives the Habs a big, mean power forward with good hands.
First NHL game got into a fight with Wi-Fi and did very well, he plays W and C, barely speaks English, will protect Demidov well.
From the Ducks I’d take Kreider, 2nd line LW he has the speed and the crash/bang in his game and only 1 year on his contract.
Ok. His stats aren’t eye popping but they are in and around 20 goals per season and I do like his size.
I’m with you, willing to drop the gloves if necessary albeit not much techique and WiFi smacked him. One pause point is his 4.75 salary and one year left before arbitration eligible.
Saw a report that Gauthier turned down a 4 year 15m aav deal. Sounds far fetched but who knows. This a kid thats already been traded once. Ducks should trade Granlund to Montreal. That would solve their 2C issue and free up cap space for Ducks.
Dallas needs to figure out Seguins future. Could start season on ltir if not 100% coming off acl surgery. He’s entering final year of his contract and will turn 35 mid season.
Looks like we were all typing at same time. Lol
What a mess the Flyers have made. I don’t know how any of this will shake down but Batherson and his 30 goals is probably sayin “why should I take less than ten? 11? Or 12?
Never liked Verbeek as a player but especially as an executive. I think he fumbled the ball on all his dealings except for LaCombe.
Verbeek’s hardline stance allowed a rival team to set the internal salary structure for the Ducks. What I mean by that is simply by allowing an over priced offer sheet to their star player thus put them over barrel and sign them to a figure. They had no intention of doing creating abdominal effect for every other star player on that team and we’re seeing that now with Gauthier. He no longer needs to look at league comparisons when you have Carlson and his big fat contract right there on the exact same team. All I know is there won’t be a shortage of other teams, helping the ducks “sign players“.
Abdominal effect? That’s f***ing funny!
You know, I have no idea what I wrote for auto correct to type that…oh well.
“Abominable” maybe? LOL – gotta love auto-correct
I believe it should have been, “a domino effect.”
clearly “a domino effect” was originally intended
As I said to Kent, Ron, none of us know what Carlsson was looking for before the offer sheet, or whether Verbeek was close to signing Carlsson before the offer sheet. And I certainly didn’t see an offer sheet of 18 million for a player coming off of his ELC, a 17 million dollar raise. So easy to blame Verbeek, but if you saw this coming take a bow.
I’m not happy with Brier either, and while I have said above Gautier can sit or leave for more than 13 million, the reality is that the bar is set higher for everyone now. That makes it difficult for everyone to help the Ducks sign players.
That said, I wonder why Brier doesn’t offer sheet Fantilli. Not the same scoring pace as Carlsson, but why such a big swing on him and not Fantilli at 14?
LJ no one saw that offer sheet coming but everyone and their moms knew it was a risk since not many GMs are crazy enough to play hardball (again a RFA) with their franchise players and guys like Carlsson don’t come along often.
It takes two to tangle and both Brier and Verbeek are to blame for this mess…but Verbeek got what was coming to him. Unfortunately most of the league will be affected to some degree but man I can’t see this working out for the Ducks without making some serious and unpopular moves to continue to become contenders.
As for Fantilli, maybe it’s a case of Brier having some fun with Verbeek, the Ducks and possibly Gauthier, but who knows. It is entertaining tho. And offer sheeting a player is no guarantee they will sign it. Offer sheets suck any way you look at it.
Gotta agree with that, Ron.
Ron Moore,
Nobody saw the Carlsson offer sheet coming BUT other GMs can and do lock down players early while others have a history of playing hardball.
Kent Hughes locked down Hutson and Demidov early for example and other GMs have done the same with core players.
When Verbeek stretched out Zegras and McTavish it was clear where the club’s future was and he had to lock down Carlsson and Gauthier like he did with Lacombe.
At most he would have to deal with Sennecke using some kind of internal cap.
It isn’t hindsight, it’s a GM lacking vision.
To be fair, HF30 the Habs are exceptionally lucky in that their stars – Hutson and Demidov most recently – settled for less than market value even before the Carlsson offer sheet fiasco.
Maybe Verbeek did play with fire with the Carlsson negotiations.
But when was the last time you heard anything from a pro athlete like we just hear from Slafkovsky, who certainly wasn’t speaking for Carlsson:
“It’s not really about the money for anyone there (in Montreal). We all have the same goal on that team. Nobody really cares about the money at this point. I mean, all those contracts that the guys have, or even I personally have, it’s already made our lives easier enough. Nobody really needs more than that. We’d rather focus on collecting those (Stanley Cup) rings, because that’s a much bigger number, and I don’t think any amount of money can top that.”
Irrespective of whether one is a Habs fan or not, isn’t it refreshing for pro athletes to appreciate that their multimillion dollar contracts will give them a money worry free life, without grabbing every nickel off the table?
LJ,
Had Verbeek locked down Carlsson and Gauthier at perceived market value, paying more than Hutson and Demidov, something like 10-12M$ there wouldn’t have been an offer sheet.
Before this $18M offer sheet the number kids were looking was much lower. If Hughes figured it out, Verbeek could or should have seen it.
He likes to play quien es mas macho and now he’s paying for it.
If by “abdominal effect”, you were implying that it made all GM’s sick to their stomachs,….then you nailed it.
Ron I agree. The only not taking a stance contract Patty did might be his best one .
Most of the noise this summer has highlighted 3 GMS. Verbeek,Yzerman and Briere. 3 ex players that were all high end talent. Could it be and I use the examples of NJ and Nashville that some of the recent GMS hired might be more acceptable of analytics in their analysis and rating of players!
An executive who we forget about in the Carlsson offer sheet is the POHO of the Flyers is Keith Jones. Let’s not forget he is Briere’s boss. I would bet he and Briere conspired together to come up with that offer sheet.
I think the offer sheet was pure genius, if Anaheim declines, we get the 1st line center we’ve been looking for.
If Anaheim matches, then we eat up all the salary cap that Cutter needs for his contract and we sit back and laugh because this kid has been in the league 2 years and he’s already proving to be high maintenance.
Also I heard that 4 other teams besides the Flyers put in offer sheets to Leo, and he went to the Ducks after he rec’d the Flyers offer sheet and asked for 15mil and got turned down so he signed the offer then.
Briere will no longer be remembered for any part of his playing career… only for destroying the salary structure in the nhl…
I am not a Ducks fan by any stretch. However, the $18M deal has really hurt the NHL. Look at what all the other young, not yet but potential, stars are now signing for. It isn’t manageable. Hockey is turning into the monster that the other leagues are. Who needs that kind of money? Seriously. 1 year at $18M, even after taxes, invested properly, makes you comfortably wealthy for the rest of your life.