Ducks Match Flyers’ $90 Million Offer Sheet to Keep Leo Carlsson, Highest-Paid Player in the NHL

The Anaheim Ducks announced Thursday they have matched the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, keeping the 21-year-old at home on a five-year, $90 million contract that makes him the highest-paid player in the NHL. The decision, revealed just one day ahead of the July 10 deadline, ends a week of speculation that had Carlsson’s future hanging in the balance and closes out one of the wildest storylines of the NHL offseason.

Carlsson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, has developed into one of the league’s most productive young centers over three seasons in Anaheim. He posted 55 points as a teenage rookie in 2023-24, tying a franchise record for goals by a teenager that had stood since 2002-03, then bumped his production to 45 points the following season. This past year, Carlsson broke out fully, racking up 67 points on 29 goals and 38 assists across 70 games while playing nearly 20 minutes a night as the Ducks’ top-line center. He finished the year a plus-4, a marked improvement for a young player anchoring a rebuilding roster that bettors have increasingly circled for NHL picks value all season.

How the Offer Sheet Unfolded

Philadelphia general manager Daniel Briere tendered the offer sheet on July 3, a bold Fourth of July weekend maneuver that immediately reshaped the Ducks’ offseason. The five-year deal carries an $18 million average annual value, edging past Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million AAV extension with Minnesota to make Carlsson the sport’s top earner. The contract is heavily front-loaded with signing bonuses — reportedly north of $85 million of the total value — meaning Anaheim had to be prepared to write a check worth nearly $20 million almost immediately upon matching, a structural detail that made the decision far more complicated than simply comparing cap hits.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, the Ducks had seven days from the tender to exercise their right of first refusal. Had they declined, Philadelphia would have sent Anaheim its first-round draft picks in each of the next four seasons as compensation for taking Carlsson off their hands. Instead, general manager Pat Verbeek chose to keep his young centerpiece, a decision that arrives after a year of what were reportedly difficult and ultimately fruitless extension talks between the two sides, the kind of protracted standoff that has become common as more front offices lean on expected value models to weigh long-term risk. Verbeek had publicly stated in the days before the offer sheet that Anaheim would match any offer for Carlsson, and Thursday’s announcement made good on that promise, even as reports throughout the week suggested growing uncertainty about whether the front office would follow through given the price tag.

What It Means for the Ducks’ Cap Sheet

Matching Carlsson’s deal comes at a steep cost to Anaheim’s financial flexibility. The move follows closely on the heels of the Ducks re-signing defenseman Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year extension worth roughly $7.2 million annually, and together the two deals leave Anaheim with well under $10 million in projected cap space for the 2026-27 season. That squeeze puts immediate pressure on the club’s talks with restricted free agent winger Cutter Gauthier, who just finished a 41-goal season and is in line for a significant raise of his own. League comparables for a young power forward coming off that kind of production — deals like Buffalo’s extension for Tage Thompson or Montreal’s for Cole Caufield — suggest Gauthier’s next contract could land in the eight-figure range annually, a number the Ducks may struggle to fit without moving out other salary. Fans looking to track how sportsbooks price Anaheim’s revamped core once the season opens can check DraftKings promo code offers or compare futures with a FanDuel promo code.

Carlsson’s new contract runs through the 2030-31 season, giving the Ducks cost certainty on their top center for the long haul even as it complicates the rest of the roster-building picture heading into training camp. The signing also arrives amid broader questions about how NHL front offices will approach the offer-sheet process going forward, with some speculating that Verbeek could look to retaliate against Philadelphia or another team down the line — though most executives around the league believe that path is unlikely given the mutual risk involved for all 32 franchises.

For now, Anaheim’s young core stays intact. Carlsson joins Mintyukov and, presumably soon, Gauthier as foundational pieces the Ducks have committed to for years to come, a signal that ownership is willing to spend to keep the rebuild’s best assets rather than watch them walk via offer sheet or free agency. Bettors weighing Anaheim’s next-season win total or Stanley Cup odds can also shop a BetMGM promo code for early markets. With training camp still months away, the front office’s next move will be closing the gap with Gauthier’s camp before the price only continues to climb.