NHL fans hammer the Ducks after they waive Kiefer Sherwood.

The Anaheim Ducks are facing some pretty heavy duty backlash from a small segment of their fan base over a controversial decision made this weekend. 

We reported yesterday that the Anaheim Ducks made a very curious decision when they announced that they would be placing forward Kiefer Sherwood on waivers in spite of the current situation in the National Hockey League. It was an eyebrow raising move to be sure and although you could have argued that they may have wanted to send him down to the American Hockey League to play, that would not have made a great deal of sense. You see the AHL has suspended play much like the NHL and that means that the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks AHL affiliate, will not be playing any time soon. In fact that has been some speculation that given the logistical issue presented to the AHL, and their relatively lack of resources for handling those issues when compared to the NHL, their season could be cancelled outright. 

Although there has been no official confirmation of this fact, this had led to speculation from many that the move was purely designed to save money. After expressing his confusion over the move on Sunday, The Athletic's James Mirtle was asked directly by a follower if the move was financial in nature and his response left little doubt as to what he thought about it.

"Has to be," wrote Mirtle on Sunday.

In an article for The Athletic on Sunday, Ducks insider Eric Stephens did his best to spin things in a positive light, but even he was forced to admit that there was an important financial component to the move. Sherwood's NHL salary represents an increase of more than 13x his AHL salary, likely life changing types of money for the jopurneyman forward.

From Stephens:

The move does have financial ramifications. If Sherwood clears, which is most likely the case during a time when there is no action or the prospect of it on the horizon at virtually any pro level, then the Ducks can pay him at a biweekly rate based off his $70,000 AHL salary as opposed to a daily calculation based off the $925,000 he earns whenever he is in the NHL.

This of course has been an extremely unpopular decision among fans, and here are just a few examples of the reactions to the news: