Leo Carlsson’s new deal with the Anaheim Ducks is already making history, but the bigger story may be what it represents for the NHL’s future.
The offer sheet, which was initiated by the Philadelphia Flyers, carries an $18 million cap hit that stands as the largest in the salary cap era. It also looks like the last contract of its kind, thanks to changes coming in the NHL’s CBA that will officially take effect for the 2026-27 season.
Carlsson’s structure is the kind of setup teams have leaned on for years. He’ll receive a $19,950,000 bonus this year, followed by an $18,100,000 bonus next year, a $15,200,000 bonus the year after that, and a $15,000,000 bonus in the final year of the deal. In total, Carlsson is set to collect $83.5 million in bonuses, with the rest paid as salary over the course of each league year.
That approach is about to get a lot harder to pull off. Under the new CBA, only 60% of a player’s contract can be signing bonuses. That change is aimed at limiting the kind of financial leverage teams like the Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs have used in recent years.
For Canadian teams, the new rules also include signing bonus limits tied to tax considerations for cross-border players in Canada and the United States. Signing bonuses will be capped at 60% of the total contract.
As Marco D'Amico noted on June 19, 2026: “Raddysh's contract will have a ton. https://t.co/x8mPbUexmC”
The practical effect is simple: the “best” offer is going to look much more similar from team to team, because signing bonuses can no longer be pushed to the same extremes.
The Rangers, in particular, have used this strategy to great effect, and the league appears to have taken notice. With the salary cap rising so sharply, the NHL seems intent on preventing more deals built the way Carlsson’s was.
That Rangers playbook has already shown up on the books in a big way. Igor Shesterkin’s new $92 million contract paid him $15,050,000 immediately in year one, and $85 million of the deal comes through signing bonuses. Artemi Panarin received a $13 million signing bonus on the first day of his $81.5 million contract, with $74.5 million of that deal paid in bonuses.
Vladislav Gavrikov, the Rangers’ major signing last year, also fit the mold. He earned $9 million in year one, including an $8 million signing bonus, and his $49 million contract includes $35.2 million in signing bonuses. Mika Zibanejad’s October 2021 deal is another example, with $60 million of his $68 million contract paid out in signing bonuses.
The Rangers did back off a bit with Dorofeyev, though not by much. They didn’t go as heavy on bonuses as they could have, possibly because they didn’t want to make him difficult to move later if he underperforms.
Even so, Dorofeyev still landed a huge payday. He got a $13 million signing bonus on July 1, and his seven-year, $77 million deal includes $35 million paid through a signing bonus.
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