Dave Litman
Talk about sticker shock. The National Hockey League‘s salary structure has been thrown for another loop. A massive one. The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t just opened the doors for Offer Sheets this summer — they’ve blown it off. Philly has signed Anaheim Ducks young star Leo Carlsson to a stunning offer sheet with an $18 million AAV on a five-year contract.
The Ducks now have one week to match it. If they choose not to, the Flyers will be sending them their next four first-round picks as compensation.
It was just nine months ago that the league was in shock when the Minnesota Wild handed Kirill Kaprizov a $17M AAV on a long-term extension. But he was an accomplished multi-time 40-goal scorer. Carlsson, who just completed his third NHL season, set career highs this year with 29 goals and 67 points.
According to insider Kevin Weekes, the Ducks were hoping to be “between $10M-$12M AAVs” for both Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, their other big-time RFA (Gauthier is not eligible for an offer sheet).
This offer from the Flyers, of course, busts up the Ducks’ projected salary structure. They hadn’t made any huge moves this offseason, with the pending Carlsson and Gauthier extensions forefront in their minds. They did have over $35 million in cap space. But if Carlsson is getting $18M (and he will be, one way or the other), then what does Gauthier come in at?
Where do Connor Bedard & Macklin Celebrini’s contracts land after Carlsson’s $18M offer sheet?
And as Weekes points out, what does this all mean for Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard? Those two more accomplished young stars are up for new deals as well (Bedard as an RFA; Celebrini still has another year remaining on his entry-level deal, but is eligible now for an extension).
And we’re hearing that there will be more offer sheets on the way. In fact, Carlsson himself was presented with four of them!
Whichever way this all shakes out, Carlsson is now in line to become the NHL’s highest-paid player for the 2026-27 season at his $18M AAV. Pending, of course, what happens with the aforementioned Bedard & Celebrini.
The Ducks have already said, earlier this week, that they would match any offer sheet Carlsson received. But were they expecting this??
