Flyers Urged to Prepare to 'Defend' Themselves from NHL Teams After Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet
The Flyers may have started a war amongst other NHL teams.
Video Transcript
Leo Carlsson, signing an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, five years, 18 million per, which makes Leo Carlsson, no matter what happens, the highest play- paid player in the NHL right now.
didn't think we would be hearing that sentence at least for five, 10 years, maybe ever, but that is the reality we are in.
if the Ducks choose not to match, they get four first round draft picks, but that would probably be cold comfort for a player that is still on the rise, a true number one center in the making.
coming off a break-off season, he had 29 goals and 67 points, and was excellent in the playoffs, 11 points in 12 games.
So Michael Traikos, I start with you.
What do the Anaheim Ducks do?
Do they match this offer sheet and potentially torpedo their own cap space in the process?
But they do get to keep a player that they drafted second overall just a couple of years ago.
Yeah, I think you have to match it, and going into the summer, Ryan, Pat Verbeek was on record saying that, you know, "Bring on the offer sheets.
We're gonna match them."
Now, he was probably thinking it was gonna be in the $14 to $15 million range, not this number, which, you know, the cap, the rising cap comes at you fast.
boy, does it ever.
So it, it does put Anaheim in a, a difficult spot, but I think you have to match because, you know, we were g- talking about this going into the Olympics.
Leo Carlsson was such a big loss for Sweden that, you know, it was really the difference between is Sweden a gold medal team or are they just gonna be a, you know, a threat for a medal?
And that, that's how important Leo Carlsson is.
I think if the Ducks are ever gonna win a Stanley Cup, he's gonna play a similar role that Sasha Barkov plays for Florida.
So, you know, he's not worth this money now, but give him a couple years, and I think we're gonna be still talking about it as, you know, a fair value for a really, really good player.
