Ducks RFA Leo Carlsson tendered NHL-record offer sheet by Flyers
Zach Cavanagh
Host · Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Anaheim Ducks have one week to decide if they will keep Leo Carlsson, the soon-to-be highest-paid player in the NHL, or if their franchise player will become a Philadelphia Flyer.
The Flyers tendered an offer sheet to the Ducks restricted free agent center to the tune of a five-year contract worth $18 million per season, which would surpass Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million-per-season deal signed with Minnesota last summer as the largest per-season value in the league.
Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek has seven days (until July 10) to match Philadelphia’s offer. If he does not and loses his 21-year-old No. 1 center, the Ducks will receive the Flyers’ next four first-round picks in compensation.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported just yesterday that the Ducks would match any offer sheet tendered to Carlsson, and that Anaheim had been relatively inactive in free agency due to waiting to see what their salary cap position will be after handling their top RFAs.
Verbeek has still yet to sign his leading goal scorer in RFA Cutter Gauthier, who is ineligible to be tendered an offer sheet due to lack of service time. RFA defensemen Pavel Mintyukov and Tyson Hinds are offer sheet eligible.
Players are restricted free agents until they reach 27 years old or seven NHL seasons. This allows teams to maintain some control over their young players, as long as they qualify their rights. In his tenure as Ducks general manager, Verbeek has been keen to leverage that control for manageable contracts against the salary cap.
In 2022, RFA negotiations with Troy Terry reportedly went up until minutes before his arbitration hearing before signing a seven-year deal. In 2023, talks with both Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras–both coincidentally Flyers now–dragged late into training camp. Last summer, Mason McTavish was a training camp holdout until his six-year deal got signed.
The one outlier was Jackson LaCombe, who signed his eight-year, $9 million-per-season deal just five days after McTavish and a full season ahead of his due date. LaCombe was set to be part of this big summer with Carlsson, Gauthier and Mintyukov, and his early signing gave an optimistic outlook for that crop.
However, talks were tabled during the season to focus on making the playoffs, which the Ducks did for the first time in eight years. Now, over a month and a half since the end of the season, Anaheim is on the precipice of losing their No. 1 center or hampering their salary cap flexibility.
The Ducks entered the offseason with over $40 million in cap space, and after the early smaller signings of free agency and Carlsson’s offer sheet, the Ducks are down to $17 million in cap space to re-sign Gauthier, Mintyukov and Hinds, as well as improve the roster in other areas.
Carlsson’s deal will also set the market for the rest of his highly qualified 2023 draft class. The No. 2 overall pick, Carlsson has 61 goals and 141 points in 201 career games with 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games this season.
Also unsigned are Chicago’s 2023 No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard and Columbus’ 2023 No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli. Bedard has 75 goals and 203 points in 219 career games with 30 goals and 75 points in 69 games this season. Fantilli has 67 goals and 140 points in 213 games with 24 goals and 59 points in 82 games this season.
