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The NHL Needs More Heels Like The Flyers After Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet
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- The NHL Needs More Heels Like The Flyers After Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet
When news broke late Friday that the Philadelphia Flyers had tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks star center Leo Carlsson , much of the NHL world was almost beside itself with shock and awe.
The sheer magnitude and gumption of the Carlsson offer sheet is breathtaking. Not only does it set a new financial bar in the NHL's Salary Cap Era, raising the top annual salary in the league to $18 million , but it also generated major bad blood between the Ducks and Flyers.
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Regardless of whether the Ducks match Philly's offer sheet, the resentment and anger the Ducks and/or their fans may have for Flyers GM Daniel Briere make for gripping entertainment.
And really, isn't that what the NHL is in the business of?
The league should be delighted to see teams turn on one another, as it brings a new level of competitiveness and a very healthy mistrust between franchises.
Not every rivalry is born on the ice. Sometimes it's the optics of teams jostling to acquire elite talent that's enough to generate a rage between organizations that otherwise wouldn't have much to hate each other over.
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The Flyers have, of their own volition, decided to play the heel in the Carlsson saga, and we should be grateful to them for their willingness to step on toes to get what they want.
Because of Briere's calculated gamble, Carlsson is getting an incredible pay raise at 21 years old after recording 67 points in 70 games this past season, and the Ducks now have a much tougher time keeping their No. 1 center, fellow RFA Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke , who's due for a new contract in two years.
Briere's decision also means there are now even more genuine hard feelings between franchises than there were only a short time ago. That is going to make for especially juicy entertainment, and any subsequent antagonistic moves between the Ducks and Flyers will lead to more fan interest and more media attention.
That being said, the offer sheet was a sharp escalation of any tension between the two clubs.
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Gauthier became an enemy of the Flyers after requesting a trade and subsequently being moved to the Ducks two years ago. The following year, Anaheim traded Trevor Zegras to the Flyers, and he not only had a bounce-back campaign but scored twice on the Ducks on Jan. 6.
Already, the talk of offer sheets for other RFAs has increased as well, and the Ducks had to act quickly to re-sign Pavel Mintyukov before he forced their hand even more.
Anaheim Ducks Got A Sobering Reality Check With Carlsson And Mintyukov
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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has long understood the power of rivalry. He's built his league's playoff structure on regional rivalries.
But then something happens between the Ducks and Flyers – two teams with no geographical link to one another – and you now have additional games that will be appointment viewing. That can only help the NHL as it battles for eyeballs on its product.
So here's hoping we see more offer sheets, more high-stakes moves and deepened rivalries because of moves like the Carlsson signing.
Briere has shown he's not above making decisions that won't win him friends at the next GM meetings. He wants a bona fide No. 1 center, even if it means overpaying to get one for years to come. And that's terrific for any hockey fan who wants to watch games between teams that desperately want to beat each other.
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This type of nastiness may seem untoward in the old boy's club that is the GM community. But even for people who have no horses in this particular race, Anaheim's clash with Philadelphia is the type of cat fight that casual and hardcore fans can sink their teeth into. And as the Ducks and Flyers battle it out over Carlsson, the winners in the fight are those who love them some NHL gamesmanship.
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