07/09/26 01:20:00
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07/09 13:19 CDT Anaheim Ducks keep Leo Carlsson, matching Flyers' $90 million
offer sheet for young center
Anaheim Ducks keep Leo Carlsson, matching Flyers' $90 million offer sheet for
young center
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) --- The Anaheim Ducks have matched the Philadelphia
Flyers' offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, keeping their rising young star at
an extraordinary cost.
The Ducks announced their decision Thursday on the 21-year-old Carlsson, who is
now the NHL's highest-paid player under the five-year, $90 million deal
extended by the Flyers one week ago.
"It's going to be a special feeling, having this pressure," said Carlsson, who
wasn't told the Ducks were matching the offer sheet until shortly before the
decision was made public. "I always wanted to be a Duck. It's my home, too. I'm
just super excited to be back."
Carlsson signed the Flyers' offer sheet as a restricted free agent after a year
of fruitless negotiations with Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek, whose
typical hardline approach in contract talks with his restricted free agents
backfired tremendously this time.
Carlsson's new contract is worth much more than the league expected the Swedish
youngster would get as a restricted free agent, and the $18 million average
annual value is significantly more than he had already indicated he would
accept. The deal surpasses the salary of Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov, who would
have been the NHL's highest-paid player at $17 million.
Carlsson's first significant contract negotiations landed him a huge payday ---
and it might have affected the NHL's entire salary structure going forward,
thanks to the Flyers' boldness. He emerged from the experience with excitement
about the Ducks' future and no public qualms about the way everything went down.
"It's a lot of business in hockey," Carlsson said. "I knew it, obviously, but
it's more business than I thought. (The details are) something for my agent to
answer more on, but (the offer sheet) was just too good to pass on. I think
everybody understands that. I talked to my teammates a lot, and everybody was
just happy for me and super-supportive with the decision I made."
The Flyers failed to land their long-sought No. 1 center in unusual fashion by
swiping Carlsson, but the attempt showed general manager Danny Briere's
determination to improve his roster at all costs. The Ducks would have received
four first-round draft picks from Philadelphia if they hadn't matched the offer
sheet.
Future negotiations will reveal whether Briere significantly skewed the NHL's
valuations of young talent by offering more than nearly all observers thought
Carlsson could get. The structure of Philadelphia's offer sheet also
front-loaded Carlsson's contract with costly signing bonuses in another
departure from many NHL contracts.
Fortunately for the Ducks, billionaire owner Henry Samueli didn't hesitate to
make that hefty financial commitment.
"Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat has intelligently left
enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo," Henry and Susan Samueli
said in a statement. "We have extremely high expectations for Leo. We firmly
believe he will continue his strong growth trajectory and become one of the
truly elite centers in the league while continuing to make a strong impact in
our community."
Although the Ducks retained their most important young player, Verbeek's
inability to get a deal done before he was forced into it by Philadelphia seems
almost certain to compromise Anaheim's roster-building efforts for years to
come. The Ducks have had a rough summer after ending their seven-season playoff
drought with a second-round run that stamped them as a near-future contender.
After keeping the Ducks' payroll well under the salary cap during his tenure,
Verbeek will be spending Samueli's money at the limit of the cap next season
after signaling vulnerability to the league while he managed his crop of young
talent.
Verbeek still hasn't signed 41-goal scorer Cutter Gauthier, a restricted free
agent who is not eligible to receive an offer sheet. Anaheim signed defenseman
Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year, $36 million deal last week, again going well
over the expected market rate for a restricted free agent who isn't on
Carlsson's level of talent, but was widely rumored to be on the verge of
signing an offer sheet.
Verbeek parted ways with four key defensemen from last season's team --- Jacob
Trouba, captain Radko Gudas, Olen Zellweger and John Carlson --- and hasn't
replaced them with any significant signings beyond journeyman Nick Jensen.
Anaheim also traded Mason McTavish, a key component of its team for several
seasons, to St. Louis for draft picks after the center regressed last season.
This pricey deal for Carlsson is the latest chapter in Verbeek's history of
antagonistic negotiations with Anaheim's free agents.
Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and McTavish all held out of training camp in
recent years when they couldn't get a deal done with Verbeek, who eventually
signed all three --- and later traded them all away. Verbeek did two of those
deals with the Flyers, gaining praise for sending Drysdale in a package for
Gauthier, but getting criticism from Ducks fans for giving up on the
high-scoring Zegras last summer.
Carlsson was the No. 2 choice in the 2023 draft behind Connor Bedard, and he
has emerged as one of the NHL's top young playmakers.
Although he didn't produce points at a rate commensurate with his new salary
during his first three seasons, almost everyone believes Carlsson can become
one of the best centers in hockey, so his deal might eventually look downright
affordable.
He scored 67 points in 70 games last season despite being limited for a lengthy
stretch by a leg injury, and he added 11 points in 12 games during his first
postseason experience.
"I'm going to grow as a player, too," Carlsson said. "I've done that every year
so far. Trying to get away from these slumps I've been having during seasons.
Trying to stay at the highest level I can all season long."
Carlsson is expected to be an unrestricted free agent when this contract ends
in 2031, putting him in line for another massive payday at just 26 years old.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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