The NHL offseason surged into drama soon after the Carolina Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup celebration, with trades, signings and offer sheets fueling daily debate. One of the earliest flashpoints involved the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, a five-year, $18 million annual average value agreement, according to the report.
The piece laid out two stark outcomes for Anaheim: if the Ducks match, the team risks severe salary-cap strain that could jeopardize re-signing Cutter Gauthier or adding an impact defenseman; if Anaheim declines, it would receive four first-round picks. The article concluded the reaction to the fallout was “NOT AN OVERREACTION.”
The report criticized Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek and vice president of hockey operations Jeff Solomon for leaving the roster exposed to an offer sheet. It contrasted Anaheim’s approach with other teams that proactively signed potentially vulnerable restricted free agents early, citing several examples: Edmonton locked up Evan Bouchard last June at $10.5 million AAV; Montreal signed Lane Hutson at $8.85 million AAV last October and Ivan Demidov at $9.15 million AAV on July 1; Utah signed Logan Cooley at $10 million AAV last October; and Los Angeles signed Brandt Clarke at $7.4 million AAV in June.
The article noted the Ducks’ preference for a grind-it-out negotiation style, observing that Jamie Drysdale, Mason McTavish and Trevor Zegras all missed training camp time during RFA talks in past seasons and that none remain with Anaheim. It also pointed to Anaheim’s reluctance to structure deals with large signing bonuses, saying $83.5 million of the $90 million on Carlsson’s deal will be paid as signing bonuses while the combined signing-bonus total on Drysdale, McTavish and Zegras extensions was zero.
Sources cited in the report included a January comment from Verbeek to Victory+ that the team had “tabled” talks with Carlsson and other RFAs, a player-on-player Daily Faceoff interview in which Carlsson said “I’d take that, for sure” about an eight-year, $9.5 million cap-hit contract, and an unnamed NHL executive who called the situation “a fireable offense.”
