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NHL Notebook: Crosby’s agent expects extension talks with Penguins soon, and Gauthier reject $13M AAV deal with Ducks

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Tyson Cole

Aug 18, 2026, 18:12 EDT

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Welcome back to NHL Notebook — the series here at Daily Faceoff Vancouver where we deliver you news and notes from around the National Hockey League — oftentimes through a Vancouver Canucks-tinted lens!

After what was a busy July for news around the National Hockey League, it’s been quite a slow August for hockey fans. However, two news pieces have hit the hockey world lately that deserve some addressing.

Crosby could be extending with Penguins

It appears that the NHL’s active scoring leader may not be done just yet.

According to the Athletic’s Josh Yohe, Sidney Crosby’s camp and the Penguins are expected to discuss an extension before summer is over.

When I recently spoke with Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, he said he hadn’t discussed the contract with Crosby yet, indicating he was letting his most famous client enjoy his summer before getting back to business. Brisson said there’s an understanding that they’ll discuss the contract before summer is over. The Penguins’ first preseason game is Sept. 21.
When I spoke with Crosby in May at the IIHF World Championships in Switzerland, he scoffed at the idea that retirement could be imminent.
“Not at all,” he responded when I asked if there was a possibility the 2026-27 season could be his last.

Crosby is entering the 22nd season of his NHL career, in which he’s played 1,420 games. His 1,761 points put him seventh all-time in league scoring, and with a healthy 2026-27, he could move into the top five with just 38 points. With 90 points, he will pass Gordie Howe (1,850) for sole possession of fourth all-time.

The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native has shown no signs of slowing down since he hit his mid-30s, posting no worse than a 1.09 point-per-game pace since turning 35.

So, seeing Crosby extend for what Yohe projects to be another one- or two-year deal, which would bring him to age 42, is completely on the table for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Crosby is in the final year of a two-year, $8.7 million contract he signed in 2024.

Gauthier rejects hefty extension from Ducks

It’s been a tough summer for GM Pat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks, and it’s not getting any easier.

According to NHL Network Radio’s Paul Shaheen, Gauthier rejected a four-year, $13 million AAV extension from the Ducks.

PaulShaheen

@PaulShaheen

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Word today from reliable sources that Anaheim has offered RFA Cutter Gauthier $13M at four years. Rejected by Gauthier and his agent Kurt Overhardt. In the moment, per @PuckPedia , the Ducks are just over $9M in salary cap. Suffice to say, if/when Gauthier signs, the Ducks Show more

10:26 PM · Aug 16, 2026

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Gauthier, 22, is coming off a breakout season in which he led the Ducks with 41 goals and 69 points. Those aren’t groundbreaking numbers, and with over $34 million in cap space heading into summer and the rising salary cap, Gauthier should have been done by now. But as mentioned, it hasn’t been a brutal offseason for Anaheim.

Sitting pretty with all of that cap space, all the Ducks needed to do was address their blueline after losing Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, and John Carlson and tend to their restricted free agents: Leo Carlsson, Gauthier, and Pavel Mintyukov. As all hockey fans now know, that didn’t go as planned.

To start it all off, Carlsson signed a five-year, $18 million AAV offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers to make him the highest-paid player at the time. As their franchise centreman, the Ducks had no choice but to match the offer, leaving them with just over $15 million in cap space.

In fear of having a similar situation happen with Mintyukov, the Ducks locked the blueliner up to a five-year, $7.2 million contract. However, with a career-high point total of just 24 he set last season, this was viewed as an overpay. This left the Ducks with just over $9 million in available cap space, with Gauthier left unsigned and a relatively inexperienced blueline.

If Gauthier signed this $13 million AAV extension, the Ducks would be around $4 million over the salary cap, and in a vulnerable position to shed some cap before the season started.

It has just gone from bad to worse for Anaheim, a team that had finally broken its playoff-less slump last season. It will be an entertaining development for Canucks fans to watch their Pacific Division rival squirm before the season starts.

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