Jeff Marek has added a fresh wrinkle to the Leo Carlsson story: four NHL teams reportedly tried to pry the young forward away from Anaheim with offer sheets earlier this summer.
That detail alone says plenty. Offer sheets are unusual enough in the NHL, but four of them aimed at the same player points to just how highly Carlsson was valued around the league. Marek said he had a sense this was brewing from conversations in Sweden before the news surfaced publicly.
"I was talking to someone in Sweden towards the end of the season, and the feeling there amongst... Swedish agents was, someone is gonna offer sheet Leo Carlsson; as we find out, there were four teams."
Marek did not identify the clubs involved, other than the Philadelphia Flyers. That leaves no way to tell whether the Montreal Canadiens were among the teams that made the push.
Carlsson ultimately stayed put after the Anaheim Ducks locked him in on a five-year, $90 million contract to keep him from getting away. That deal did more than settle one player’s future - it helped drive the market higher for the NHL’s next wave of young stars.
Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard were among the players who soon landed similarly massive salaries, while Adam Fantilli and Cutter Gauthier have also seen their asking prices climb. Carlsson’s deal now stands as a clear turning point in the league’s sudden salary surge for young talent.
The 21-year-old forward finished last season with 67 points in 70 games, including 29 goals. Across his first three NHL seasons, he posted 29 points in 55 games, then 45 points in 76 games, before breaking out with that big 2024-25 campaign in Anaheim.
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