ANAHEIM, Calif. – It wasn’t on their own terms, but the Anaheim Ducks finally locked up their franchise center on Thursday.
Anaheim matched Leo Carlsson’s league-changing offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Ducks signed the 21-year-old Swede to a five-year, $90 million contract. With an average annual value of $18 million per season, Carlsson is now the highest-paid player in the NHL with the largest total-value contract in Ducks history
The contract surpasses Kirill Kaprizov’s previous NHL high of $17 million-per-season that is set to kick in this season with Minnesota. Jackson LaCombe’s eight-year, $72 million contract signed last September was the largest total-value deal in Ducks history.
“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat (Verbeek) 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.”
The deal for Anaheim’s 2023 No. 2 overall pick is heavily laden with signing bonuses, with $85.3 million of the contract’s total value coming from signing bonuses. Carlsson is immediately due a $19.95 million signing bonus with just a $850,000 base salary in the first year. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek had not included signing bonuses in any contract prior to this week’s deals with Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov.
Carlsson will hold a no-trade clause in the fifth year of the deal.
Philadelphia tendered the offer sheet for this deal to the restricted free agent last Friday. Anaheim had seven days to match the deal or receive the Flyers’ next four first-round draft picks as compensation.
“We are very happy to have Leo under contract for five years,” 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.”
With the deal officially on their books, the Ducks have just over $10.1 million in salary cap space remaining with their leading goal-scorer–RFA winger Cutter Gauthier–still to sign. Due to NHL service time, Gauthier is ineligible for an offer sheet.
During the offseason, teams can also operate 10% over the salary cap, which comes out to $10.4 million this summer. Additionally, Ducks will receive up to $3.9 million in cap relief if Troy Terry (hip surgery) goes on long-term injured reserve at the start of the season. The salary cap is projected to rise by $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons.
Anaheim wrapped up their remaining RFA defensemen this week with a five-year, $7.2 million-per-season deal for Mintyukov and a two-year, $900,000 per-season deal for Tyson Hinds. RFA Ian Moore signed a two-year, $1.15 million-per-season contract last month.
Knowing the Ducks had a large crop of key restricted free agents coming due this summer, Verbeek seemingly worked ahead last September, when he signed No. 1 defenseman LaCombe to an eight-year, $9 million-per-season deal just five days after a prolonged holdout RFA negotiation wrapped up with Mason McTavish. (It was the third such negotiation of Verbeek’s tenure.)
However, no further deals were struck in training camp, and contract talks were tabled during the season, as Verbeek wished for the players to focus on making the playoffs. Anaheim made the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons and won its first playoff series in nine seasons.
After the season, Verbeek hoped for a quick resolution for top priorities in Carlsson and Gauthier.
“In a perfect scenario, I’d like to get them done in a week here,” Vebeek said at exit interviews on May 16. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball to say how it’s going to go. I’d like to get it done as soon as possible, but we all have to cooperate with one another.”
Carlsson and Gauthier both said, “We’ll see what happens.”
No deals were made before the opening of free agency on July 1, which left Carlsson open to offer sheets from other teams. Anaheim still held the right to match, but their exclusive negotiating window had expired.
NHL insider Elliott Friedman of Sportsnet reported on July 2 that the Ducks would match any offer sheet for Carlsson. He later reported that Verbeek and Carlsson’s representatives spoke on July 3 before the offer sheet was announced. The Ducks reportedly offered $12.5 million per season, and the Carlsson camp countered with $15 million per season.
Anaheim said no, seemingly unaware of the $18 million per season they’d be forced to decide on from the Flyers’ offer sheet, which was signed by Carlsson later that day.
The Ducks took their full seven days to decide on matching the highest salary in the league and hampering their immediate salary cap flexibility or losing their No. 1 center and receiving Philadelphia’s next four first-round picks, which are likely to be later picks with the Flyers’ aims for success. The Flyers selected at No. 21 overall in last month’s draft.
Anaheim decided to match the deal and take on the contract to keep their franchise face in the fold.
Since being selected No. 2 overall by the Ducks in the 2023 draft, Carlsson has 61 goals and 141 points in 201 career games. This season, the Swedish Olympic pick scored 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games with another four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games.