Thanks to Leo Carlsson's $18-million-per-year offer sheet, the NHL won't be the same in terms of how players are paid and how teams structure their rosters.
Leo Carlsson's offer sheet did more than make him the highest-paid player in the NHL on an annual basis. It reshaped the entire NHL contract landscape, and the Anaheim Ducks star knows it.
Speaking at the NHL/NHLPA Player Media Tour in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Carlsson addressed the fallout from his five-year, $80 million offer sheet, which was tendered by the Philadelphia Flyers and matched by Anaheim.
It was a deal that sent shockwaves through the league and sparked a wave of rising contracts across the board.
Carlsson said he's heard directly from his peers about the impact. "Players are thanking me," he said, according to Mark Lazerus, acknowledging the new market his contract helped create.
But that shift has come with real consequences in Anaheim. Carlsson was asked about the Ducks placing veteran Chris Kreider on waivers in a bid to eventually terminate his contract and clear cap space.
The Ducks, who weren’t at all properly prepared to handle an offer sheet of this size, now have to sign Cutter Gauthier, and eventually Beckett Sennecke. The team, run by GM Pat Verbeek, is in a financial squeeze created by Carlsson's own deal. "Chris, he's leaving, but he's also really happy for me as well," Carlsson said. "It's a hard business."
That it is, and the rest of the NHL is learning it too. The ripple effect is wide-reaching. It goes well beyond the Ducks.
Following Carlsson's offer sheet, several other young NHL stars saw their markets shift as teams reassessed what top-tier talent is worth. RFAs like Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini all became more expensive propositions for their respective teams.
Bedard signed a $15-million-per-year contract over five years. Celebrini came in with an $18.8-million cap hit over the same term.
Not long after, Cale Makar signed a massive eight-year deal for $20.4 million per year. His situation was different as a 27-year-old superstar defenseman and UFA, but the trend was obvious. Big salaries are here, and $9- to $10-million cap hits around the NHL are starting to look like bargains.
The NHL won't be the same from this point forward. Teams that took care of business before the Carlsson offer sheet will feel like they have an advantage, while locking up a young star after the fact will become even more expensive.
Teams like the Montreal Canadiens have most, if not all, of their roster on good, team-friendly deals.
Then, there will be teams like Anaheim, which have several players on mega deals and are still coming into their own as players.
Clubs with superstars who have deals expiring in the next two seasons will see the money being handed out and have to make nearly impossible decisions: sign for a discount to help your team, or take your piece of the pie.
As Carlsson just showed, and as Gauthier follows, not every player is out to help their team financially. And if Carlsson is being truthful about how many players have called and thanked him for boosting salaries, there will be many more who follow his lead.
The successful teams in the NHL will be successful, in large part because of their timing. If they have beaten the pivot towards mega contracts, they’ll be just fine. If they didn't, it’s going to be an expensive few years.
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