Cutter Gauthier forcing the Ducks to make a trade before the season.

The Anaheim Ducks will be forced to make a trade sooner rather than later according to one of the National Hockey League's top insiders.

What has happened to the Ducks salary cap structure this summer will be studied by teams around the NHL as a cautionary tale of what not to do, with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek badly misjudging the danger that we now know came in the form of a Philadelphia Flyers offer sheet for Ducks star forward Leo Carlsson.

The Ducks were forced to match the massive 5 year contract offer, one that came with an average annual value and salary cap hit of $18 million but, as NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed this past week, that is only the beginning of the Duck's salary cap nightmare.

Still unsigned is Ducks star forward Cutter Gauthier who is actually coming off of an even better season than the one Carlsson just had. Gauthier put up 41 goals on the season compared to just 29 from Carlsson, and actually finished the season with more points as well by scoring 69 total points compared to just 67 from Carlsson.

During a recent segment on the NHL Network, Friedman revealed that Gauthier's next deal is going to cost the Ducks more than just salary.

"With Gauthier I have heard rumors of some progress but it's gonna be a big number," revealed Friedman on the NHL Network. "It's gonna be a really, really big number. I think one of the things we will be watching over the next couple of weeks is what Anaheim tries to do to create some cap room. They are gonna have to do some roster surgery to get this done."

Roster surgery of course means that Verbeek will now have to move talent off of his roster in order to make room for Gauthier's new deal, and that means trading from a position of considerable weakness. Although Friedman didn't mention anyone by name, The Ducks have 3 veteran players that are on deals that will soon expire making them what I believe to be most likely candidates for a move. Both Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn are entering the final year of their respective deals, while Mikael Granlund has one additional year remaining on his current contract.

A terrible situation for the Ducks, and one that likely could have been avoided.