The Philadelphia Flyers shook up the NHL off-season on Friday as the team signed Anaheim Ducks restricted free agent forward Leo Carlsson to a massive five-year, $90 million offer sheet.
The deal will see Carlsson carry the league’s highest cap hit at $18 million, surpassing Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million AAV with the Minnesota Wild.
The Ducks have until Friday to decide whether or not to match the offer, with four first-round picks over the next five years coming their way from the Flyers if they elect to allow Carlsson to head east.
Considering the Flyers are clearly willing to pay Carlsson the $18 million and sacrifice their picks to do so, it is a relatively risk-free bet on their part. The team will simply keep their picks and a large amount of cap space if the Ducks match it. The heavy price tag, though - both in terms of salary and assets - will leave a significant amount of pressure on both Carlsson and the Flyers to perform should he join the team.
The Flyers currently have $29.6 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, though that number will drop to just $11.6 million if Carlsson joins the club with Trevor Zegras, Jamie Dyrsdale and Nikita Grebenkin still in need of new contracts as restricted free agents. Both Zegras and Drysdale elected to file for salary arbitration on Sunday, setting a deadline for later this summer for Philadelphia to get a deal done.
Adding Carlsson would help cement the long-term future of the nucleus of the Flyers, who already have Travis Konecny, Sean Coutourier, Owen Tippett, Christian Dvorak, Noah Cates, Tyson Forester, Travis Sanheim, Cam York and Dan Vladar signed for at least the next three seasons. Zegras and Drysdale could also join that group this summer with long-term deals.
Carlsson, 21, posted 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games last season and added four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff contests. He was clearly heavily sought after as he hit restricted free agency on July 1, with TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reporting that four teams presented him with an offer sheet.
Dreger adds that the deal is heavily loaded in signing bonuses, and that close to $20 million will be paid when the contract is registered with the league.
Will the Ducks match the offer sheet?
The Ducks are now faced with a massive decision that will have a significant impact on their long-term future either way. Do they elect to make Carlsson the league’s highest-paid player and dedicate major cap space to him, or do they allow a budding star to walk and take back four first-round picks?
Anaheim took care of one piece of business Sunday to help their future cap projections, signing defenceman Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year, $36 million deal. The 22-year-old restricted free agent will carry a cap hit of $7.2 million moving forward after posting 14 goals and 22 points in 73 games last season.
That deal leaves the Ducks with $9.97 million cap space if they match the Carlsson offer with RFA Cutter Gauthier still in need of a new deal as well.
Gauthier, acquired by the Ducks from the Flyers for Drysdale back in 2024, led the Ducks in scoring last season, registering 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games. He posted four goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games, setting himself up for a nice payday this summer.
The 22-year-old is also currently free to sign an offer sheet this summer, though he has not taken that action as of yet.
The Ducks took a major step forward this season, reaching the second round of the playoffs in their first trip to the postseason since 2018. Losing Carlsson would represent a significant blow and general manager Pat Verbeerk would then have to consider whether he can weaponize the draft picks to help fill the hole in his lineup.
Keeping Carlsson would allow a key member to return, but will lead to tough decisions in the future due to his high cap hit.
The Ducks already allowed captain Jacob Trouba to walk on the open market last week while staying largely silent in order to keep space for their RFAs.
The clock is now ticking see what the Ducks do next.
