Give the Flyers an \u201cA\u201d for effort but also a \u201cSC\u201d because there was only a very slim chance they were going to gain the services of center Leo Carlsson.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Anaheim Ducks decided to match the Flyers\u2019 five-year\/$90-million offer sheet which was made on last Friday.<\/p>\n
The Ducks had a week to decide but needed just six days to make up their minds. If they had chosen not to match, they would have received the Flyers\u2019 first-round draft picks for the next four years.<\/p>\n
Flyers general manager Daniel Briere made a gutsy move by trying to secure Carlsson\u2019s services but Anaheim just couldn\u2019t afford to part ways with what now becomes the highest-paid player in the National Hockey League at $18 million per season through 2031.<\/p>\n
The general reaction to the failed attempt is that the Flyers gave it their best shot. It seems rather unlikely they will make a try for another headline player by going this route in this offseason.<\/p>\n
Carlsson sounded pleased he\u2019s staying put, even though he was willing to play for the Flyers. After all, he did sign the offer sheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to be a Duck,\u201d he said through Anaheim\u2019s press department. \u201cIt\u2019s home, too. So I\u2019m just super excited to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offer sheet was just the business side of hockey, according to Carlsson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean there\u2019s a lot of business in hockey,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I knew it. It was just too good to pass on. I think everybody understands that. I talked to my teammates too (about the offer sheet) and everybody was just super happy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it\u2019s been a tough couple days for the Flyers.<\/p>\n
They learned on Tuesday that Claude Giroux decided to re-sign with the Ottawa Senators. And now Carlsson will continue to play with his team in California.<\/p>\n
But, there is a positive from all this.<\/p>\n
Briere has shown the Flyers are willing to make bold moves to get better and continue to improve after making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2020.<\/p>\n
No doubt the Flyers could have used a star player to take over the No. 1 center spot but that situation will need more time to resolve itself.<\/p>\n
Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement released by the team that the Ducks never really thought about letting their 21-year-old star go elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very happy to have Leo under contract for five years,\u201d Verbeek said. \u201cWe have viewed Leo as a franchise player since the moment we met him prior to the 2023 draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not signing Carlsson at least means the Flyers will have salary space for some of their top restricted free agents, such as Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow him at www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Give the Flyers an \u201cA\u201d for effort but also a \u201cSC\u201d because there was only a very slim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,404,127,157920],"class_list":["post-392569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-trt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}