The Philadelphia Flyers made a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson on July 3. This major move was announced by the general manager, Daniel Briere, in a statement on their website.

The contract is valued at $18 million annually; if accepted, this would make Leo the highest-paid player in hockey. Carlsson has signed the offer, but Anaheim still has control over where he’d end up with Philadelphia.

"The Philadelphia Flyers have tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson," Briere said in a statement. "The offer is a five-year contract worth an average annual value (AAV) of $18M, which would require four of the Flyers' first-round draft picks in each of the next four seasons as compensation."

As Carlsson is a restricted free agent, Anaheim has the right of first refusal under section 10.3 of the NHL's collective bargaining agreement. The Ducks have just seven days left from the signing to match the offer. 

If Anaheim does match the offer, Carlsson can stay on the team under those terms. If not, he moves into the Flyers, and Philadelphia sends Anaheim a first-round pick in each of the next four drafts.

Carlsson was the second overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and soon moved into one of the league's top centers. 

Just last season, he scored 29 goals and 38 assists for 67 points in 70 regular-season games. Then, later, he added 11 points in 12 playoff games to help lead Anaheim to the second round. In about 201 career games, all with the Ducks, he has 141 points with 61 goals and 80 assists. 

The Flyers’ offseason period has been pretty quiet till now; they only made a few small moves on July 1. This includes five-year contract extensions for forward Tyson Foerster and goaltender Dan Vladar.

They also signed a new two-year deal for forward Noel Acciari and a one-year deal for Carl Grundstrom. But Carlsson's offer still stands to be one of the largest in NHL history. 

High-stakes draft for the Flyers

There is a lot of pressure on the Flyers, which is why they built such a huge offer sheet. A rejected match could cost them four future first-round selections.

According to an article from NHL.com, in this year's draft in June, Philadelphia used six picks. It started by acquiring defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii as the 27th overall from San Jose in exchange for the 21st overall selection.

The other picks included defensemen Brek Liske and Max Laatikainen, goaltenders Martin Psohlavec and Marek Sklenicka, and forward KJ Sauer.

Philadelphia also added draft capital in early June. They acquired a fifth-round pick in 2026 and a fourth-round pick in 2027 from Florida in a trade with forward Garnet Hathaway.

Giving up four first-round picks would disrupt the Flyers' ability to add to similar roles in the future, and this would raise the stakes on whatever Anaheim decides by July 10.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Yash Kotak