The Anaheim Ducks are set to put Chris Kreider on waivers for the purpose of contract termination, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, and the veteran forward has already agreed to it.
Friedman reported that “according to several sources, Kreider has indicated he desires to return east, closer to family where he spent the first 13 years of his career, and will not report if claimed somewhere he prefers not to play.” Kreider has one year left on the $6.5MM AAV deal he signed with Anaheim.
This move comes as the Ducks try to navigate a tight cap situation after signing Leo Carlsson to a five-year extension with an $18MM cap hit. Carlsson’s contract originally arrived as an offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim chose to match it rather than let its young No. 1 center walk for only a handful of first-round picks in compensation.
Matching the deal was widely viewed as the right call for GM Pat Verbeek, but it came with consequences. Cutter Gauthier, now in his second season, remains unsigned as an RFA, and his price has likely climbed since even six months ago. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported that Connor Bedard’s $15MM AAV extension with the Chicago Blackhawks this summer is being used as a comparable for Gauthier.
Anaheim simply does not have that kind of room right now. Per PuckPedia, the Ducks have a little more than $9MM in cap space, and getting to the $15MM figure would require clearing nearly $6MM. That lines up almost exactly with the cap hit the team would remove by terminating Kreider’s contract.
A trade might have looked like the cleaner solution, but Friedman reported that Verbeek “did not like the trade options presented to him, specifically “sweeteners” he might have to include to get it done.” Rather than attach extra assets to move the contract, Anaheim reached an agreement with Kreider to end it a year early.
That opens the door for Kreider to hit the free agent market before training camp. And if another team wants him, the better path would be to sign him outright instead of claiming him on waivers.
The reason is simple: Kreider’s cap hit is $6.5MM, but his base salary is only $4MM. If he isn’t willing to accept a pay cut, he could still sign a new deal at a $4MM cap hit and make the same salary he would have received on a claim, while giving his new team $2.5MM in cap relief.
At 35, Kreider still has some appeal as a late-summer pickup. He scored 22 goals and 50 points last season in his first year with Anaheim, and he’s only two seasons removed from a 39-goal campaign with the New York Rangers. For teams in the Eastern Conference looking for scoring help, this gives them a shot at a former 50-goal scorer under highly unusual circumstances.
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