Flyers

Leo Carlsson Will Not Be a Philadelphia Flyer

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jul 9th, 2026 · 12:31 PM EDT

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The Ducks matched the offer sheet:

Five more years of LEO!https://t.co/3uscSK2GmJ

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) July 9, 2026

Damn.

Well, they said they would match any offer sheet on Carlsson, and they matched it. So Pat Verbeek stayed true to his word.

Now he has the highest-paid player in NHL history. The contract is for $18 million AAV and it will certainly impact the effort to sign Cutter Gauthier and build out their roster.

Here are two quotes from the Ducks release:

“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo,” said Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli. “We have extremely high expectations for Leo. We firmly believe he will continue his strong growth trajectory and become one of the truly elite centers in the league, while continuing to make a strong impact in our community.”

…

“We are very happy to have Leo under contract for five years,” said Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek. “We have viewed Leo as a franchise player since the moment we met him prior to the 2023 draft. He’s 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.”

For the Flyers, they are denied their generational 1C of the future. What now? Well, they can offer sheet someone else. There’s been noise about Adam Fantilli. Or they try to trade those picks, the four 1st rounders from the offer sheet, and get their guy that way. Worst case scenario is that they run it back with minimal upgrades, while retaining their salary cap flexibility. They’ll probably keep trying to make the big splash until it hits, because you’re not gonna sit here and wait for the next Wayne Gretzky to come along in the draft. They’re not gonna be drafting in the top 10 anyway, we hope.