The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet, the team announced on Friday. Regardless of what happens from here, Carlsson will become the highest paid player in NHL history at $18 million per year, passing Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov.
Carlsson, 21, was a restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract with the Ducks. Anaheim now has seven days to match Philadelphia's offer, or it will receive four first-round picks from the Flyers in exchange for losing Carlsson.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, Carlsson is well on his way to becoming a superstar center in the NHL. In just 201 career games, Carlsson has piled up 61 goals and 80 assists while flashing some excellent two-way potential. Last season, Carlsson took a noticeable step forward while leading Anaheim to its first playoff appearance since 2018.
Carlsson fell just shy of becoming a point-per-game player with 67 points in 70 games, and he posted a five-on-five expected goals share of 53.4%, per Natural Stat Trick. Those are sparkling numbers for a center of his age, and he should only continue to improve over the next few seasons.
The Flyers, meanwhile, had a need at center. Last offseason, Philadelphia picked up former Duck Trevor Zegras in a trade with Anaheim, and he was a revelation for the Flyers. Zegras posted a career year with 26 goals and 41 assists while also making great strides defensively under first-year coach Rick Tocchet.
Still, Philadephia is in need of a true No. 1 center at the top of the lineup, and this move would help the team check that box without tanking or relying on draft lottery luck. The Flyers looked to be a team on the rise in 2025-26, and signing Carlsson would only accelerate that ascension.
The big question for Philadelphia -- and now for Anaheim -- is whether Carlsson can become an $18 million player. He's not there yet, but given his age and future salary cap projections, he could get close. Players of Carlsson's caliber are very hard to find, so even Phildelphia did overpay a bit, it might be worth it just to know the team has its franchise center locked down for the forseeable future.
On the other side of the country, the Ducks are in a real bind. They've already lost four members of their blue line in the offseason with Jacob Trouba (free agency), Radko Gudas (free agency), John Carlson (free agency) and Olen Zellweger (trade) going out the door. Losing Carlsson, the biggest prize of the team's six-year rebuild, would turn a tough situation into a disaster for Anaheim.
The path of least resistance, which may be the correct one, might be for the Ducks to match the Flyers' offer and keep Carlsson in the fold. Anaheim has the room to absorb Carlsson's new cap hit, but it would have less money to upgrade the defense. If general manager Pat Verbeek doesn't believe Carlsson is worth that money, he could take the four first-round picks and newfound cap space and go big-game hunting himself. It's just hard to imagine the Ducks find another rising superstar to replace the one they lost.
How do offer sheets work?
Until they accrue seven years of NHL service or reach the age of 27 -- whichever comes first -- players become restricted free agents when their contracts expire. When that happens, other teams can submit offer sheets. If that happens, the team that currently holds the player's rights has seven days to match the offer sheet or let the player go, whereupon it would receive compensation in the form of draft capital.
The draft compensation varies depending on how the annual value of the contract. Carlsson's record deal obviously falls into the highest tier, which requires four draft picks over the next five years. Philadelphia currently has five first-round picks over the next four years, so it can pay that price and have one selection left over.
2026-27 offer sheet draft compensation
Average annual value | Draft Compensation |
$11,939,167 and above | 1st round (4x) |
$9,551,333 - $11,939,166 | 1st round (2x); 2nd round; 3rd round |
$7,163,499 - $9,551,332 | 1st round; 2nd round; 3rd round |
$4,775,667 - $7,163,498 | 1st round; 3rd round |
$2,387,833 - $4,775,666 | 2nd round |
$1,575,970 - $2,387,832 | 3rd round |
Below $1,575,969 | None |
Offer sheets haven't been all that common, but teams are finally starting to use them as valuable roster-building tool. Using them to pluck valuable depth from cap-strapped opponents has been more common, but the Flyers might start a new trend in the NHL.
Let another team draft and develop a young star, then throw a boatload of money at him as soon as he hits the market. There's always the chance the original team matches the offer sheet, but no real harm comes of that, other than maybe some bad blood.
If opponents are going to risk losing their best young players by allowing them to hit restricted free agency, why not make them pay? In this case, Anaheim will either watch its franchise cornerstone go to Philadelphia, or it will be pay an enormous sum of money to keep him.
Let this be a lesson to other teams with budding superstars: Get them extended early or risk a major headache.
