The agents for Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson explained how the historic offer sheet that he signed came about.
On July 3, the Philadelphia Flyers announced they had signed Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet. With an $18 million AAV, Carlsson immediately became the NHL’s highest-paid player on a per-year basis, beating out Kirill Kaprizov’s previous record $17 million AAV with the Minnesota Wild.
On July 9, the Flyers decided to match the offer sheet, with the Ducks’ owners and general manager Pat Verbeek saying in statements that matching the contract was an easy decision for the franchise.
But Verbeek was heavily criticized for not signing Carlsson beforehand, instead waiting for the Ducks to be forced to match a massive offer sheet, which will hurt their salary cap structure going forward. However, they had to match it because they didn’t want to lose their No. 1 center in exchange for four first-round picks that aren’t sure things to pan out.
But according to Carlsson’s agents, who spoke to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on a special edition of “The 32 Thoughts Podcast,” the Ducks tried to sign Carlsson all season long. They just felt that there was more money out there on the free-agent market, and they turned out to be right when the Flyers offered Carlsson the historic offer sheet.
Leo Carlsson’s Agents Say Pat Verbeek Was Aggressive Trying to Sign Leo Carlsson
According to Carlsson’s agents, the father-son duo of Matt and Ryan Keator, Verbeek offered Carlsson an eight-year, $84 million contract with a $10.5 million AAV before the season started, but the agents turned it down, as they felt they would be leaving money on the table.
“It’s an offer that we were quick to turn down right away, and it wasn’t for their lack of trying. It’s just that we needed time to figure out the marketplace, and where the marketplace was going. They were tenacious, they were after us on it, through September and October. And we used that September and October time to do more research,” Matt Kreator said (via Broad Street Hockey).
“Now listen $80 million is a lot of money, we understand that, we get that. But we’re living in a marketplace and operating within the NHL marketplace. Every contract that a player signs affects others around him. You have to be cognizant about that.”
The agents admitted that it was their decision not to sign the Ducks’ contract offers, and instead they chose to wait until after the season was over and walk Carlsson to free agency to see what kind of offers he would get as an RFA.
Agents Explain Why Leo Carlsson Signed Offer Sheet
According to the agents, Carlsson had seven or eight NHL teams interested in signing him as an RFA, with four teams making offers to him. It ultimately came down to two teams, and the agents signed the offer sheet with the Flyers.
The agents said that when they told Carlsson about how much money he was getting from the offer sheet, he was left “speechless.”
“I think he was overwhelmed by the structure, how it was front-loaded, almost all of it in signing bonus, and frankly that makes a huge difference when you’re making that decision. Because that’s up-front money. That’s money in your pocket with compound interest, so the value’s even greater. I think the offer he received was something that he and his family couldn’t refuse. Like The Godfather, he made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Matt Keator said.
In the end, the Ducks decided to match the Flyers’ offer sheet, and Carlsson will be under team control for the next five years. But with an $18 million AAV that makes him the highest-paid player in the league, there is going to be a lot of pressure on the 21-year-old Swede to live up to the expectations and become an elite player in the NHL.
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