The five-year, $90 million offer sheet the Philadelphia Flyers gave Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson caught the team “by surprise.”
The Flyers broke the internet on Friday when they announced they had signed Carlsson, the 21-year-old phenom center from the Ducks, to a five-year contract with an annual average value of $18 million. That’s exactly $1 million more per season than Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov signed for when he became the NHL’s highest-paid player at $17 million.
Now, Carlsson holds that title with his $18 million per year salary.
The Ducks now have one week to match the offer sheet from the Flyers. If they do, he’ll be back in Anaheim for the next five years. If they don’t, then the Ducks will get the Flyers’ next four first-round draft picks as compensation.
Will Pat Verbeek Match the Offer Sheet?
Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said earlier this week that he would match any offer sheet presented to Carlsson. However, he likely did not think any team was going to offer him the highest salary of all time per season on his new deal.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the number the Flyers came in with at $18 million “caught him completely by surprise.” Friedman believes that Verbeek knew a threat of an offer sheet was looming, but figured it would be around $15 million, not the $18 million that Carlsson got from the Flyers. The NHL insider also believes that another team made a seven-year, $17.5 million offer, and he thinks another team thought about offering him the maximum NHL salary of $20.8 million per season.
“He warned everyone the Ducks would match any offer. That said, I have no doubt the number caught him completely by surprise. I’d bet Verbeek thought maybe 15. Maybe. But, if you’re going to do this, you have to do it in a way that you can actually get the player. I heard there was another team considering seven years at a $17.5 million AAV, and honestly, I believed someone would think about the max ($20.8 million),” Friedman wrote.
Flyers Put Pat Verbeek in a Bind
There’s no doubt this monster offer sheet has put Verbeek and the Ducks in a bind. While the GM did say that he would match any offer, he likely did not expect any team to come in at $18 million per season.
The Ducks have the cap room to match the offer right now, but going forward, they have several other young and talented players who are going to need new contracts. So if they do give Carlsson his money by matching the offer, it will make it difficult for the Ducks to give long-term contracts to all of their other young stars.
That’s the reality of a cap world.
While Verbeek will likely stay true to his word and match the offer sheet since the Ducks love Carlsson so much, the other option of taking the four first-rounders from the Flyers and trading them for someone like, say, Dylan Larkin, is also intriguing.
We’ll see what Verbeek ultimately does, but there is no doubt this offer sheet is a true game changer in the NHL and could potentially change how much young players are paid going forward.
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