The Anaheim Ducks are keeping Leo Carlsson.
After the Philadelphia Flyers sent shock waves through the league with a five-year, $90 million offer sheet on July 3, the Ducks chose to match it Thursday and hold onto the 21-year-old center they’ve long treated as a cornerstone. The deal makes Carlsson the highest-paid player in the NHL, with an $18 million average annual value, topping Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million per season with the Minnesota Wild.
“We are very happy to have Leo under contract for five years,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “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.”
Anaheim had a choice to make: match the deal or take Philadelphia’s next four first-round picks as compensation. The Ducks passed on the picks and paid to keep the player whose entry-level contract expired this summer.
“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo,” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said in a statement. “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.”
Carlsson backed up the organization’s belief in him last season. He finished second on the Ducks with 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games, then added four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games before Anaheim was knocked out in the second round.
“It was just too good to pass on,” Carlsson said via Zoom Thursday. “I think everybody understands that too. I talked to my teammates a lot too, and everybody was just super happy for me and supportive with the decisions I made too.
“It’s more like when you see that number, it’s hard to say no, which my teammates understand too, completely. They would have done the same thing.”
For Philadelphia, the move came up empty and leaves the search for a true No. 1 center unresolved. General manager Daniel Brière has collected a promising young group, but the top of the lineup still has a glaring hole. With the Flyers unlikely to land a top-three draft pick anytime soon, they’ll have to find another route to solve it.
None of their current centers - Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Noah Cates or Sean Couturier - project as a top-line center on a contending team. The offseason isn’t necessarily finished, though.
Brière could still chase Columbus restricted free agent Adam Fantilli, or perhaps the disgruntled Dylan Larkin, who remains property of the Detroit Red Wings, could become an option. Even so, there’s also a real chance the Flyers open training camp in September with the roster they have now.
They are young, they are patient, and Brière is not expected to force a move just for the sake of making one.
Anaheim, meanwhile, now has to live with the financial consequences of keeping Carlsson.
The Ducks could have taken the four first-round selections and tried to rebuild around their cap space, while also focusing on re-signing 22-year-old sniper Cutter Gauthier. Instead, they stayed true to their public stance and matched the offer sheet, even though the number was far higher than they expected.
Carlsson’s cap hit will account for 17.4 percent of Anaheim’s cap for 2026-27, and that figure will only become easier to absorb as the cap rises. But the squeeze is real now, especially with Gauthier expected to seek a major extension and rookie standout Beckett Sennecke also on the path to a big payday once his entry-level deal ends.
The Ducks are also sending a message. After contentious contract talks with Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and Mason McTavish ended with all three eventually being traded, Anaheim had to prove it was serious about keeping its best young players. Matching Carlsson’s offer sheet did that, even if the price was steeper than anything they likely imagined last summer.
Now the pressure shifts to Gauthier. With Carlsson’s $18 million on the books, PuckPedia estimates the Ducks have just over $9 million in space, and Gauthier’s next deal is expected to land at least in eight-figure territory.
Frank Vatrano, who had a difficult 2025-26 season, is viewed as a possible salary dump and would free up $4.57 million. Chris Kreider or Alex Killorn could also be moved.
Trading Gauthier is technically another path, but it would be a long shot. Anaheim acquired him from Philadelphia for Drysdale in a deal the Ducks would make “10 times over,” and with the league knowing the Ducks are tight against the cap, the return wouldn’t be strong. There’s little leverage in any move they have to make now, but Carlsson and the Ducks can at least turn the page on a wild stretch and get back to building around the center they refused to let go.
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