Daniel Brière and the Philadelphia Flyers broke the Twitter-verse on Friday when they sent over an offer sheet for Anaheim Ducks standout centre, Leo Carlsson.
In an attempt to improve their centre depth, Brière went big-game hunting for one of the best RFA-centres on the market, by sending over a massively front-loaded 5-year deal worth $90 million with $85 million of that total coming in the form of bonuses.
The Ducks were given 7 days to match, which still means there’s 5 days remaining until they have to make a decision. While Carlsson is their future 1C – and potential captain – the way the Flyers structured the offer sheet is going to make the Ducks think twice.
Almost every insider and voice in the NHL believes that GM Pat Verbeek will match the offer sheet, but it won’t be such an easy choice. Prior to today, the Ducks had $17 million in cap space when factoring in Carlsson’s deal, but had RFAs in Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Tyson Hinds in need of contracts. However, after Mintyukov’s 5-year extension at $7.2 million per season, the Ducks enter the week with $9.973 million remaining.
Gauthier cannot be offer sheeted because he doesn’t meet the minimum number of games played requirement, but there had been rumours about teams sending Mintyukov an offer sheet, which proved to only complicate matters further.
The Ducks defense has taken a hit this summer with departures in the form of John Carlson, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, and Olen Zellweger. Remaining on the roster are Jackson LaCombe, Nick Jensen, Ian Moore, and Tristan Luneau alongside Mintyukov and Hinds.
The ripple effect that the $18 million AAV that Carlsson signed for is that it could impact how Gauthier enters negotiations with Verbeek and company. The Ducks were hoping to sign both players somewhere in the $10-12 million AAV range, but with the offer sheet in tow, does that change how much Gauthier and his agent will be looking for?
Verbeek is also an extremely difficult negotiator when it comes to his RFAs as evidenced by the departed Jamie Drysdale, Mason McTavish, and Trevor Zegras. Drysdale and Zegras took their contract negotiations into the first week of October in 2023 before being moved out within a year and McTavish was just traded at the draft a couple weeks ago.
Verbeek reportedly stopped contract negotiations during the season with Carlsson, which might have backfired in the end, considering he accepted the Flyers’ lucrative offer. The once hard-nosed NHLer had mentioned prior to July 1st that he would accept any offer sheet thrown his way, but I don’t think even he expected the Flyers to come in with a $90 million dollar offer over 5 years.
Included in the deal is $85 million in bonuses, with a $19 million check hitting his bank account once the contract is registered with the NHL next week. The structure of the offer sheet is also going to become obsolete with the league changing their bonus structure to a maximum allotment of 60%.
While the Ducks ownership group have deep pockets, it’s still not an easy decision to come to terms with. The Ducks, primarily under Verbeek, had not handed out bonuses as such to any of their players. The exception before Mintyukov was Chris Kreider, but his contract was negotiated by the New York Rangers before he was traded to Anaheim.
Another interesting tidbit about the contract that was offered is that Carlsson will carry a full NMC in the final year of his deal. Not only will he walk into unrestricted free agency at the end of his contract, but the Ducks won’t be able to even entertain the possibility of moving him for assets, should it get to that point.
So with the nitty gritty of the contract out of the way, what does this mean moving forward?
What It Means For The Flyers
For the Flyers, this is the type of move that fans have been clamouring for from the new front office. Brière kept things under wraps – as he seemingly always does when it comes to trades and free agents – but with the cat out of the bag, there are a few things they need to concern themselves with.
If the Ducks don’t match the offer sheet, Carlsson comes to the Flyers and immediately becomes their 1C for the next 5 seasons. The 21-year-old has steadily improved over his three-year career, including 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games during the 2025-26 season.
It will also mean that the Flyers lose their next 4 first round picks between 2027 and 2030 – but they will still have ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first round pick they received in the Scott Laughton trade.
His $18 million cap hit will cut the Flyers available cap space from $29.565 million to $11.565 million with Drysdale, Zegras, and Nikita Grebenkin requiring new contracts as restricted free agents, with the former two filing for salary arbitration earlier Sunday.
There were rumours during the draft from Andy Strickland that the Flyers were getting close to an extension with Drysdale. David Pagnotta jumped on top of it and mentioned that an extension was looming in the range of 4 years with a cap hit over $6 million.
Perhaps the Flyers are waiting for the Carlsson decision to announce the extension, but should that number be confirmed, it would leave them with just a little more than $5 million to play with.
Zegras has always been seen as their top priority, so it will be interesting to see if things change at all with the Carlsson offer sheet. It still seems likely the Flyers keep him, alongside Drysdale, but it would have to come at the behest of a roster player or two.
Rasmus Ristolainen becomes the clear cut choice to trade to clear cap space. He carries a cap hit of $5.1 million with just one year remaining on his contract and he has continuously generated a lot of trade buzz with teams like Boston, Montréal, and Ottawa.
If they move him for draft compensation and don’t retain any salary, that would give the Flyers $16.656 million and the likelihood of keeping the rest of the roster intact. They could also look to entertain offers for Owen Tippett ($6.2 million), Noah Cates ($4 million), and Nick Seeler ($2.7 million).
What It Means For The Ducks
For the Ducks, it’s going to be a hectic week as they decide whether or not they want to retain their talented, young centre. They’ve been rebuilding for quite some time and were ready to make their mark after advancing to the second round of the playoffs this past season.
Helping their decision out a little bit is knowing that Kreider and Alex Killorn are off their books next summer at a combined cap hit of $12.75 million. With the Mintyukov dilemma now solved, the Ducks could look to find a trade partner for either of their veteran forwards to further alleviate the matter.
Despite the Ducks wanting to have been free and clear from offer sheets, there is still a world where all 3 of their top RFAs can fit under their once-projected $35 million in cap space, but it will come at the cost of a bonus-heavy contract for Carlsson and whether or not Gauthier would be willing to take a little less than expected – while also remembering that Beckett Sennecke can begin negotiating an extension next summer.
Everything changes if the Ducks can find a trade partner for Killorn or Kreider, but until then, all eyes will be firmly entrenched on Gauthier. Even if he comes in under the $9.973 remaining cap space, the Ducks need some more wiggle room to keep Hinds and further address their defense.
The Flyers have been in this position before when they offered defenseman Shea Weber a similarly structured offer sheet. Nashville eventually matched the offer despite how hemorrhaging the bonuses were because they couldn’t lose both Weber and Ryan Suter in the same summer.
The Flyers don’t really have too much to lose with this move because they either come out of it with their future 1C or they miss out on Carlsson but keep their next 4 first round picks. It would also make things easier for contract talks with Drysdale and Zegras.
Another thing to keep an eye on is how this affects Claude Giroux. The former Flyer was rumoured to have signed a deal with the club shortly after the offer sheet was sent out, but nothing has been confirmed since.
Perhaps they’re waiting on the Ducks’ decision, but in which direction no one knows. Is Giroux more interested in joining the Flyers if Carlsson is on the roster? Or is Giroux their Plan B should the Ducks match the offer?
Nevertheless, it’s going to be a nervy few days before the Ducks come to their decision. Rumours and conversations will run amuck on social media until then, so take everything you hear with a grain of salt, as both GMs are going to be radio silent until Friday, at the latest.
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