The Anaheim Ducks issued a statement after matching the offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers for center Leo Carlsson.
After Flyers GM Daniel Briere signed Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million contract on July 3, it put a lot of pressure on Ducks ownership and management to match the contract, one that makes Carlsson the NHL’s highest-paid player per season with an $18 million AAV.
In the end, the Ducks did not want to lose their 21-year-old franchise center for four first-round picks from Philadelphia, and they announced on July 9 that they have matched the contract for Carlsson, keeping him in Anaheim for the next five years.
Ducks Statement on Leo Carlsson
After making the offer sheet match official, the Ducks’ owners, Henry and Susan Samueli, shared a statement on Carlsson, saying that matching the offer sheet from Philadelphia was “an easy decision” for the club to make.
“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo. 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,” the Ducks owners said in a statement posted on the team’s official website.
In addition, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek, who said the team would match any offer sheet given to Carlsson, also shared a brief statement after he lived up to his words and matched the offer sheet.
“We are very happy to have Leo under contract for five years. We have viewed Leo as a franchise player since the moment we met him prior to the 2023 draft. He’s a character person on and off the ice. Leo is viewed as a top player in this league, and it was always our intention to match any offer sheet,” Verbeek said in a statement.
Ducks Have More Work to Do
Now that Carlsson is back in the fold, the Ducks still have a lot of work to do.
The next order of business is getting winger Cutter Gauthier signed. After scoring 41 goals this past season for Anaheim, Gauthier is no doubt in line for a massive contract too, especially after seeing his fellow Swede Carlsson ink a historic contract.
The difference between these two players is that Gauthier is not eligible for an offer sheet because he does not technically have three years of service time under his belt yet.
After seeing Carlsson get $18 million per year, look for Gauthier to want to get something around $12 million to $15 million on his next contract, which will throw the Ducks’ cap out of whack for the next season as they await some of their veteran players to have their contracts expire following this coming season.
Spending over $30 million combined on Carlsson and Gauthier is likely not what Verbeek wanted heading into this offseason, but it appears that’s the reality of the Ducks’ salary cap going forward.
Ducks Issue Statement After Matching Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet