Ladies and gentlemen, the Anaheim Ducks did it. After the Philadelphia Flyers gave Leo Carlsson a massive five-year, $18 million AAV offer sheet, Pat Verbeek decided to stay true to his word and match Philadelphia's offer. That's right: the Ducks are paying Carlsson's offer sheet of $18 million AAV for five years.
The Ducks have matched the Leo Carlsson offer sheet
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 9, 2026
Now, the Ducks have an $18 million question on their team. How are they going to create the necessary space to fill out their roster? Does that mean that players like Frank Vatrano, Chris Kreider, or Alex Killorn go? What about Mikael Granlund?
Suddenly, Anaheim has the realistic issue of roster upheavel to deal with. They might have roughly $9 million in salary cap space to deal with. But how are you paying Cutter Gauthier to stick around? The Ducks have become targets for the dreaded offer sheet, with teams like the Flyers waiting in the wings.
Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights (and the Edmonton Oilers) can't help but laugh at Anaheim's misfortune. The Oilers are actually getting good value for Leon Draisaitl's $14 million AAV contract and have Connor McDavid's loyalty (for now, at least). That will buy them more time to keep the Stanley Cup contention window open.
But what about the Golden Knights, you ask? Well, they never have this problem in the first place. They moved on from Pavel Dorofeyev's potential contract because the asking price was too much for general manager Kelly McCrimmon to handle. They also traded Akira Schmid and watched him go to arbitration. While these are smaller examples compared to Carlsson, the premise is still the same: don't overpay for a youngster until they've proven their worth.
The Vegas Golden Knights win with today's Leo Carlsson news in more ways than one
Look at what the San Jose Sharks are dealing with right now. They're staring down the barrel of two pending contracts in Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Both are restricted free agents next season and will probably fetch hefty money in their own right. That's especially true with Celebrini, who'll look to make more than Carlsson.
Suddenly, the rough number of $52 million in salary cap space doesn't look so appealing with those two names factored in. That's not even mentioning Yaroslav Askarov being a restricted free agent next season and he's arbitration-eligible. How will the Sharks navigate this potential catastrophe?
That's not McCrimmon's concern as he looks at how to manage the salary cap further. He's already purged the roster of bloated deals such as Keegan Kolesar's, creating more future cap space. That could mean going after yet another big name in the trade market, further infuriating the NHL atmosphere.
Don't forget that this also puts the Oilers in a bind. Once the summer of 2028 rolls around, they'll have massive questions about paying McDavid such money. Is he worth more than $18 million AAV? The answer is yes, yet the question proceeds to concern the surrounding depth. How will Stan Bowman address this issue?
All of this gives the Golden Knights a clearer pathway to reigning supreme over the Pacific Division. Will the roster get older and cause more complications? Yes. That's always going to be a problem. However, that won't be too big a problem with McCrimmon running the show.
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