With the opening of training camp on the horizon, the Anaheim Ducks finally decided to make a tough, but necessary move by placing Chris Kreider on waivers for the purpose of contract termination, as reported by Elliotte Friedman.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 9, 2026
In the near term, both Kreider and the Ducks have found an amicable resolution for both sides. Long term though, the Ducks will have to further lean into organizational depth to supplement the loss of Kreider.
The deck has been cleared
With all of the turmoil surrounding the Ducks during the offseason and the subsequent fallout, the Cutter Gauthier contract extension, or lack thereof, has been front of mind for Ducks fans, as the team barrels towards the start of training camp. With only $9 million in cap space and the rumored asking price from Gauthier's camp being closer to the Connor Bedard line (5 x $15 million), the Ducks would have been forced to move out a veteran contract or two out of necessity, in order to make the money work. By clearing Kreider and his $6.5 million cap hit, the Ducks have more room to work with, to finally bring Gauthier back into the fold and help stabilize the forward group. The clock has once again started ticking even more fervently on Ducks GM Pat Verbeek to get a Gauthier extension though, as to not have a repeat of the Trevor Zegras or Mason McTavish contract situations. Both Zegras and McTavish struggled mightily in subsequent seasons after signing extensions with Ducks, as their training camp time was wasted on waiting for new deals, impacting on-ice performance.
Who will step up?
If and when Gauthier signs, he would be the logical replacement for Kreider on the top line, alongside Leo Carlsson and Beckett Sennecke. But with Troy Terry absent from the lineup to start the season, the Ducks would be extremely reliant on the top line to generate most of the offense. The Ducks are not bereft of veteran depth options either, as Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano are not going to easily replace Kreider's 50-point output from last season. While A.J. Greer (32 points) and Jeff Malott (9 points) are serviceable additions to the bottom six, they are not needle movers. The answer will have to come from within, as the Ducks will have to rely on at least one of their young prospects to make an impact in the upcoming weeks, through the Rookie Faceoff, into training camp, and the preseason. The road is now clear though for the highly touted Roger McQueen or Nikita Klepov to seize the opportunity and land a regular NHL role, with Kreider now removed from the organization. Unless Verbeek makes another move to clear even more cap space, the Ducks are saddled with tapping into that prospect pipeline once again, with Sennecke's break out last season being the best-case comparable.
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