Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
It is the dawn of a new era in the NHL, and the Flyers are officially among the trailblazers.<\/p>\n
A few short hours after watching the next generation wrap up development camp with a spirited and competitive three-on-three tournament, Danny Bri\u00e8re<\/a> and the Flyers announced they are major players for today\u2019s stars with the signing of budding star Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet. <\/p>\n The offer is a five-year contract<\/a> worth an average annual value of $18 million. According to a league source, it is front-loaded with a heavy signing bonus. It would make Carlsson the highest-paid player in terms of AAV in the NHL and would walk him directly to unrestricted free agency.<\/p>\n Pat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks have seven days to match the offer. If they don\u2019t, according to the team\u2019s press release, the Flyers would have to transfer their own first-round draft pick in each of the next four seasons as compensation. However, according to PuckPedia, it is four in the next five years.<\/p>\n The yearly signing bonus payments in Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet: $19.95M, $18.1M, $17.05M, $15.2M and $15M.<\/p>\n This is a cross the Rubicon moment for the NHL.<\/p>\n \u2014 Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Carlsson, a restricted free agent, is coming off his entry-level contract, and the two teams could also elect to work out a trade for the Swedish center ahead of Anaheim\u2019s deadline. It should be noted that if the Ducks match the contract, they cannot trade Carlsson for one year.<\/p>\n Carlsson, 21, is a 6-foot-3, 208-pound center and is coming off a breakout season. There is the critique that the deal is an overpayment, but he is exactly the type of young No. 1 center the Flyers have been craving for years. Ironically, the last 1C was Claude Giroux, who is in talks with the Flyers, although it sounds like that potential reunion is contingent on what happens with Carlsson.<\/p>\n The Swede has size, speed, playmaking ability, and a lethal shot. Selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, Carlsson had 29 goals, 38 assists, and 67 points in 70 games this past season, despite missing time from mid-January to the Olympic break with a Morel-Lavall\u00e9e lesion in his left thigh<\/a>. According to Physiopedia, this is \u201cdue to shearing forces which separate the skin and subcutaneous tissue from the deep fascia.\u201d <\/p>\n Four of his goals and 18 of his points last season came on the power play. He added another four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games, his first postseason experience. Across 201 career games, he has 141 points (61 goals and 80 assists) with a 14.7 shooting percentage, while he has won 41% of the career faceoffs he has taken \u2014 although it was 34.8% his first year.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Flyers\u2019 Dan Vlada\u0159 is happy to have found a team that believes in him: \u2018I don\u2019t take it for granted\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Carlsson is a former teammate of Trevor Zegras<\/a> and Jamie Drysdale<\/a> \u2014 both of whom are restricted free agents and due new contracts. Zegras and Drysdale\u2019s new deals are expected to account for something in the neighborhood of $15 million combined.<\/p>\n According to PuckPedia<\/a>, the Flyers have a smidge over $29 million in cap space before Carlsson\u2019s proposed deal. If Anaheim does not match, that leaves $11 million in cap space for the Flyers \u2014 technically, because the PuckPedia numbers have Nolan Foote ($850,000), Jett Luchanko<\/a> ($941,667), Carl Grundstr\u00f6m ($1 million), and Oliver Bonk ($909,166) in the NHL. It is also burying David Ji\u0159\u00ed\u010dek\u2019s salary in the minors, but all signs point to Ji\u0159\u00ed\u010dek \u2014 who is no longer waiver-exempt \u2014 and his $1.5 million cap hit being in the NHL. <\/p>\n Adding the first four names and subtracting Ji\u0159\u00ed\u010dek and Carlsson, that leaves just over $13 million between Drysdale and Zegras, with the expectation that fellow restricted free agents Nikita Grebenkin and Hunter McDonald would also be in the minors. If Anaheim doesn\u2019t match the offer sheet, the Flyers would likely have to move a contract or two out to accommodate Carlsson\u2019s massive deal.<\/p>\n The offer sheet also leaves Anaheim in a pickle, as the Ducks still have to sign restricted free agents Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Tyson Hinds. Next summer, Tim Washe is up for a new deal, and in two years, budding star Beckett Sennecke should also get a monster deal.<\/p>\n Bri\u00e8re and Verbeek have some history. They came into their GM roles roughly the same time \u2014 Bri\u00e8re in May 2023 and Verbeek in February 2022 \u2014 and have already made two major deals. In January 2024, Gauthier was sent to the Ducks for Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick that became Jack Murtagh. Last June, the Flyers acquired Zegras for Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-rounder and a 2026 fourth-round pick. Because of these trades, it is a good sign that the Ducks would not be retaliatory and try to offer sheet Zegras or Drysdale.<\/p>\n