After Leo Carlsson accepted offer sheet, another Ducks player demands same salary

On Spittin' Chiclets, Yandle said he was fed a tidbit that the Ducks winger won't accept anything below Carlsson's league-leading $18 million AAV.

Ryan Whitney went further, joking that Gauthier's camp left with a "see you boys in January" holdout warning.

Every writer covering this landed on the same verdict: Gauthier can't be offer-sheeted this summer, so he has no real leverage, and $18 million is a fantasy.

That reading is correct about the number and completely wrong about the clock.

Gauthier is a 10.2(c) restricted free agent, which blocks any rival team from signing him to an offer sheet right now. Whitney said it himself - he can't be offer-sheeted until next summer.

A short bridge deal doesn't weaken Gauthier's position; it hands him the exact weapon Carlsson just used.

Sign a one-year bridge, keep scoring, and he hits 2027 as a proven 40-goal winger with full offer-sheet eligibility.

He scored 41 goals and 69 points last season, so betting on himself is hardly a reach.

By matching Philadelphia's $90 million offer, Verbeek didn't just pay Carlsson - he proved the Ducks will match record money rather than lose a young star.

Every rival GM saw that. Gauthier's agent saw it too.

So the honest version isn't a greedy 22-year-old demanding $18 million he can't force today. It's a camp that should take a bridge, wait twelve months, and let the offer-sheet market Anaheim just validated set the price for them.

The panic over $18 million now misses the point.

The dangerous number is whatever a rival submits in July 2027 - and this time, Gauthier gets to sign it.

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