Philadelphia has signed Anaheim restricted free agent Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million ($18 million AAV) offer sheet. Per the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Ducks have 7 days to match the offer and retain Carlsson’s services. In the event Anaheim fails to match this offer, Philadelphia must transfer to the Ducks its next four first-round picks as compensation. Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek has announced that the team would not make an immediate decision regarding whether or not it will match terms.
Signing Carlsson presumably would still leave the Flyers with enough cap space to also get a deal done for RFA pivot Trevor Zegras, the former Duck who was traded to the Flyers last June for forward Ryan Poehling and a pair of draft picks. With respect to Anaheim, Carlsson is one of three prominent RFAs for the Ducks, the other two being forward Cutter Gauthier and d-man Pavel Mintyukov. The Ducks have just over $35 million in cap space to get deals done with these players.
Carlsson’s offer sheet makes him the soon-to-be highest-paid player in the NHL, topping the $17 million per season Kirill Kaprizov will make starting in 2026-27. The 21-year-old Swede registered 67 points (29G 38A) in 70 games this past season.