Heading into the 2025-26 season, I asked the following question – do NHL teams have too much cap space? In the case of the Philadelphia Flyers, they answered that question, not with words, but a waterfowl shotgun in the form of a five-year offer sheet to 2023 2nd-overall pick Leo Carlsson, with an average annual value (AAV) of…18 MILLION DOLLARS???
The compensation from the Flyers would be four of their own unprotected first-round picks unless the Anaheim Ducks match the offer, either way, this makes Carlsson, who had 67 points in 70 games, not only the highest-paid player of all time, but the highest cap hit percentage since it’s inception in 2005.
Revenge for Cutter Gauthier? A flashy move to entice Claude Giroux? Both of these are possibilities. Giroux still hasn’t signed, by the way. David Pagnotta reported yesterday that he was returning to the Flyers (before the news of the offer sheet), but no official announcement has been made.
There still may be hope for your Ottawa Senators.
Atlantic Division Check-in:The Tampa Bay Lightning are still the favourite to win the Atlantic Division, with the reigning Hart and Vezina winners in Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy. They’ve replaced Darren Raddysh with John Carlson (2x$8.5M) and Oliver Bjorkstrand with Ilya Mikheyev (4×3.85M), while snagging an underrated young goaltender in Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Nick Paul, who just had his worst season since becoming a full-time NHLer. Maybe he’ll continue to kill the Leafs, this time from within.The Florida Panthers were set to compete for another Cup before they went ahead and acquired Jacob Markstrom from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a solid third-liner in Evan Rodrigues. No salary retention on a $6M cap hit, either. Sunny Mehta really is a genius, as it turns out. I don’t hate Akira Schmid as a backup, however.By far the best trade of the offseason by any team, was the Buffalo Sabres sending Bowen Byram to Chicago for the 4th overall pick, plus other assets. That said, Buffalo has yet to address the departure of Alex Tuch, so I would say with confidence that they’ve taken a step back. Still, picking up Olen Zellweger from Anaheim and locking up Zach Benson (7x$7.5M) are solid moves.Do I think the Detroit Red Wings have had a good offseason so far? Yes. Viktor Arvidsson is a steal at $5M. Does it matter? Probably not.At first glance, the Boston Bruins appear to be moving in the right direction with their pickup of J.J. Peterka, who’s a safe bet to improve on his 47-point season in Utah, and while it’s a solid move long-term, the loss of Arvidsson makes it a lateral move in the context of the upcoming season. Will Borgen isn’t going to do very much, either. Mark my words, either Jeremy Swayman will put together another Vezina-caliber season, or the Bruins miss the playoffs.The Montreal Canadiens haven’t added anyone of note, but they might have made the best moves of any of our Atlantic rivals, extending Ivan Demidov (8x$9.15M) and Jakub Dobes (3x$5.35M).I am ashamed to admit that the Toronto Maple Leafs had me worried for an infinitesimal moment, but they went ahead and signed Sergei Bobrovsky to a three-year deal worth $7M annually. His save percentage last season was .877, by the way.