No team has ever successfully offer sheeted a player at the highest compensation level since the NHL moved to the tiered draft pick model. In a few days, we\u2019ll find out whether that changes. But regardless of the outcome, this move will have a long-lasting impact in many ways. Here\u2019s who looks good right now and who has some egg on their face, with the obvious caveat that this will shift once the Ducks make their decision.<\/p>\n
Winner: Leo Carlsson<\/p>\n
Carlsson is already a great player, nearly a point-per-game scorer last season at 21 years old in both the regular season and the playoffs. His combination of size and skill is hard to find, especially at a premium position like center. There\u2019s a reason Anaheim drafted him second overall behind Connor Bedard in 2023, the highest pick of their rebuild.<\/p>\n
Now, just three years after being drafted, Carlsson is in a win-win situation. He\u2019ll either stay with the Ducks, a young team on the rise that made it to the second round last season, or he\u2019ll join the Flyers \u2014 a young team on the rise that made it to the second round last season. Maybe he stays teammates with Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and Troy Terry; maybe he becomes teammates with Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny.<\/p>\n
And regardless of where he\u2019s playing, he\u2019ll be doing so as the highest-paid player in the NHL. His first standard contract guarantees him generational wealth, and he\u2019ll be on a promising team no matter the outcome. Maybe there\u2019s a world where the Ducks match, and there\u2019s some resentment for him nearly jumping ship, but this is the biggest offer sheet in the NHL since Sebastian Aho, and things are still going pretty well for him with the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n Loser: Pat Verbeek<\/p>\n In the last two years, The Athletic has published an annual feature of questions answered anonymously by NHL player agents. Both times, there was a consensus answer for the hardest front office to deal with. In 2025, eight of 28 votes went to the Ducks, twice as many as any other team. In 2026, seven out of 23 votes were cast for them, three more than any other team.<\/p>\n Now, that status isn\u2019t necessarily the end of the world: the Hurricanes were tied for second and third in 2025 and 2026, respectively, and they\u2019ve turned out just fine. But Anaheim\u2019s front office, led by general manager Pat Verbeek, has a reputation as one of the NHL\u2019s prickliest in negotiations.<\/p>\n The Flyers are as aware of that as anyone. Their two main current restricted free agents, Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras, were both available after contract disputes that lingered into training camp. Both players were moved less than a calendar year after signing their previous deals. Verbeek also just traded highly regarded under-24 players in Mason McTavish (a 2021 third overall pick) and Olen Zellweger, both of whom fell out of favor remarkably quickly.<\/p>\n Elliotte Friedman<\/a> reported the Ducks were discussing a $12-13 million contract in the hours before the offer sheet, which is a lot of money but notably not $18 million. A year ago, Carlsson himself said<\/a> he\u2019d take a hypothetical eight-year, $9.5 million AAV contract suggested by Elias Pettersson. Who knows for sure if he was serious, but it clarifies the Ducks seemed to have a window to get a contract done with a much smaller cap hit.<\/p>\n Instead, Verbeek has to balance the dilemma of losing arguably his best player or taking up roughly half of his team\u2019s cap space, with Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov and Reese Hinds all also current restricted free agents (RFAs). Only those who were part of the negotiations truly know this, but the situation does feel avoidable.<\/p>\n Winner: Daniel Bri\u00e8re<\/p>\n An immediate qualifier here: Daniel Bri\u00e8re<\/a>\u2018s degree of success is yet to be determined. If the Ducks match, you could argue this was just a waste of time for the Flyers, temporarily limiting their financial flexibility and clouding his relationship with Verbeek and potentially other GMs as well.<\/p>\n But even if Carlsson stays in California, there are still positives in signing this contract. First, it tangibly proves Bri\u00e8re\u2019s claims that the Flyers are back to becoming a desired destination. After losing out on the John Carlson sweepstakes and being unable to lure Zach Werenski away from the Columbus Blue Jackets, there was some impatience among the fanbase about Bri\u00e8re\u2019s ability to land high-end players.<\/p>\n Not only did the Flyers convince Carlsson to sign with a team across the country, but they beat out three other teams, according to TSN\u2019s Darren Dreger<\/a>. And all just a few days after Bri\u00e8re said the Flyers might take a step back in 2026-27 after snapping a six-year playoff drought. Maybe they will, but it won\u2019t be for a lack of trying. And now there is tangible proof of that.<\/p>\n Loser: Teams With Unsigned Young Stars<\/p>\n For a long time, RFAs have been the best value players in the NHL. The scarcity of offer sheets meant the only realistic levers most could pull were arbitration (for those eligible) and holdouts, which rarely lasted into the season and often led to sluggish seasons for the player following.<\/p>\n Perhaps the fact that a 21-year-old fresh off his entry-level contract is now the NHL\u2019s highest-paid player will start to change that. At minimum, the opportunity is certainly there for it to happen. The Seattle Kraken already tried to make Jason Robertson<\/a> what would\u2019ve been the second-highest-paid player at the time with a $15 million AAV offer. Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Alexander Nikishin and \u0160imon Nemec are among the current RFAs who could be in line for big paydays.<\/p>\n While this wasn\u2019t much of a factor in the Carlsson situation given the Ducks\u2019 success last season, perhaps young players will lose some patience for rebuilds early in their careers. Chicago hasn\u2019t sniffed the playoffs in Bedard\u2019s first three seasons, for example, and he would\u2019ve felt stuck there in the past. Now, there\u2019s a clearer path to departing earlier than ever. Bedard specifically feels highly unlikely to take that route, at least right now, but maybe the next young stars will think differently.<\/p>\n Winner: Hockey Fans<\/p>\n Hockey fans have long had to deal with their offseason feeling like a buzzkill compared to other sports, especially the NBA. Basketball fans would get blockbusters involving multiple future Hall of Famers and vaults of first-round picks; the NHL would see a team trade up from 21 to 18 and a third-liner sign for six years at an inflated cap hit.<\/p>\n![\"Leo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Leo-Carlsson-Ducks-2-1200x900.jpg\")
Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n