theathleticuk
Make no mistake, the Anaheim Ducks are in a pickle.
A real jam.
A financial spill left for them to clean.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Leo Carlsson dropped a five-year, $90 million offer sheet on their table on Fourth of July weekend, and there is no easy way to mop up the mess it has created for the Ducks.
Advertisement No option is particularly good for the Ducks in the bigger picture, but one must be chosen in the seven days Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek has as he meets with his staff.
Heres the best one: Match it.
On Friday, the Ducks decided to mull things over.
Theyre not commenting until the process has concluded.
This comes after strong signals sent that they would match any offer sheet that comes their way.
That, with more than $37 million of salary cap space available, as estimated by PuckPedia one reason why theyve made only small additions in free agency they would match anything sent Carlssons way in minutes.
And if that average annual value for the Flyers five-year offer were at $13 million or even $15 million, that might have been the counterreaction to Daniel Brieres power move.
The only fallout would have been cost certainty on Carlssons second contract created for Verbeek, a negotiation that he didnt need to finalize and a relationship between GMs to reassess after trades they had made involving Trevor Zegras, Cutter Gauthier and Jamie Drysdale.
But $18 million? The Ducks didnt see that coming.
Perhaps no one outside of Flyers HQ, either.
Talks between the Ducks and Carlssons agent, Matt Keator, were in an active stage, and they continued into Friday morning.
The Ducks have viewed the Swedish center as a franchise-leading type since they drafted him at No.
2 after Connor Bedard in 2023.
Midseason thigh surgery limited him to 70 games, and his 29 goals and 67 points arent superstar numbers, but the Ducks and others see that the 21-year-old is only starting his rise as a star No.
1 center.
His performance against the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs showed that.
The Ducks were eager to sign Carlsson to an eight-year contract before the maximum term is reduced to seven years when the new collective bargaining agreement kicks in Sept.
16.
But this offer sheet raises the question: Where was that eagerness to extend Carlsson last July 1 or thereafter when the first opportunity to do so was available? It would have been a large number but not $18 million.
Probably nowhere near that.
Advertisement When reached by The Athletic, Keator would not comment on the offer sheet or their negotiations.
We will let that process play out, Keator said, following the lead of Verbeek and Briere after the Flyers stunning play to land a first-line center.
If the Ducks dont match, they will receive Philadelphias first-round picks over the next four years.
And they can keep their financial structure from spinning out of control.
The Athletics Chris Johnston broke down how Carlssons front-loaded contract structure would contain massive bonus payments.
The yearly signing bonus payments in Leo Carlsson's offer sheet: $19.95M, $18.1M, $17.05M, $15.2M and $15M.
This is a cross the Rubicon moment for the NHL.
Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 3, 2026 It isnt clear if any Anaheim player has a significant signing bonus in his contract, but the Ducks typically havent made balloon payments each July and spread out the remaining salary during the season.
That thinking will need to change as teams (particularly owners of those teams) have recognized that structuring contracts with one huge payout each year is a means to retain top talent or attract it.
The bonuses in the Carlsson offer sheet arent Anaheims doing, but this could have been avoided if Verbeek had pressed to lock him up last summer.
As it is, Verbeek has earned his reputation as a rugged negotiator who will let one of his prime restricted free agents sit out training camp until the GM gets an agreement on his terms.
His history is known.
Zegras, Drysdale and Mason McTavish held out.
All three traded, the last being McTavish during this years draft.
Moving McTavish freed up an additional $7 million of cap space for the Ducks, but its as if the Flyers used that against them.
It can have a deleterious effect on Verbeeks ability to make roster adjustments that will take Anaheim to the next step after returning to the playoffs this spring.
To suddenly have Carlsson as the games highest-paid player will mean that Gauthiers AAV will jump higher than what the Ducks planned or desired.
Advertisement Theres a third RFA, defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, another offer sheet candidate who could be targeted as opponents see Verbeeks difficulty in keeping all three of his key young roster players.
The Ducks are fortunate that Gauthier isnt eligible for an offer sheet.
But matching Carlssons $18 million reduces their available space to $19 million, and that means signing Gauthier and Mintyukov might leave nothing to fill the remaining holes and have flexibility for any in-season moves.
With all that, the Ducks must match.
The alternative is worse.
Four first-round picks are a lot, but the value of those will lessen if the Flyers continue to improve and become a regular playoff participant.
The Ducks will not have a No.
1 center for the foreseeable future.
Their best option in the middle would be 34-year-old Mikael Granlund.
Theyre bullish on Roger McQueen, but hes likely not going to be ready until 2027-28, and its debatable if he has a No.
1 center ceiling.
Those future picks could help present an attractive trade offer for the Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin, but even if it is one Verbeeks former boss, Steve Yzerman, finds acceptable, Larkin would need to waive his no-trade clause.
Larkin has been a productive player for years and would help the Ducks now, but he isnt a replacement for Carlsson and will never be what the big Swede could become.
The Ducks identified Carlsson as a player they could build around.
They cannot let him go before he has fully bloomed.
There will be financial difficulties, but thats why you have assistant GM Jeff Solomon, Verbeeks chief contract negotiator and an experienced salary cap expert, on the staff.
Maybe a way out is trading Mintyukov or taking the draft compensation if the defenseman gets an offer sheet and signs it.
But at some point, Verbeek needs to send out the message that his top homegrown players are critical to the franchise.
He did that in locking up Jackson LaCombe, the Ducks best defenseman, well ahead of his cheap bridge contract expiring.
Playing the waiting game with his very best player backfired.
Matching that offer sheet as ridiculous as it initially looks gives him the mulligan he needs.
The Ducks are finally relevant again.
They cant throw away all the momentum built over the past year by continuing to play hardball.