It was only a matter of time, and the Ducks used every last second they had. On Thursday, the Ducks announced that they had matched the Philadelphia Flyers' five-year, $90 million offer sheet to forward Leo Carlsson. If they had decided not to match, they would have received four first-round picks.

Carlsson, 21, was a pending RFA and coming off a 67-point season in his third NHL season. This move locks down the Ducks' No. 1 center for the next five years. It also adds an $18 million-sized cap hit to their 2026-27 salary cap. Per PuckPedia, the Ducks have a little over $9 million in cap space. Cutter Gauthier, who scored 41 goals last season, is still a pending RFA and will surely be looking for an AAV in that range--or higher.

“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as Pat has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo,” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said via press release. “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,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in the same release. “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.”

In Nov. 2025, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said during an interview on Victory+ that contract extension discussions had been paused with the likes of Carlsson and Gauthier, stating that they wanted to see how the market settles. "I really don't want to get into too hard of it because I want the players to keep playing well and not think about their contracts."

In late January, during another interview on Victory+, Verbeek reiterated that he had tabled contract extension discussions with the camps of Carlsson and Gauthier, saying that he wanted both players to be focused on making the playoffs. "There's plenty of time to deal with it," Verbeek said at the time. "We'll deal with it when the season's over and beyond."

That's all fine and dandy, but it didn't sound like much progress had been made in the month and a half between the Ducks' season ending on May 14 and June 26, when Verbeek spoke to the media after Day 1 of the 2026 NHL Draft.

The bombshell dropped on July 3 shortly after noon PT, when the Flyers tendered the offer sheet that rocked the NHL. $85.3 million of Carlsson's $90 million was made up in signing bonuses, a contract element that the Samuelis do not typically include in their players' contracts.

Just a day before the offer sheet was officially tendered, a report came from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman that the Ducks were willing to match any offer sheet for Carlsson. Was it meant to be a scare tactic? Perhaps Verbeek--and cap guru Jeff Solomon--felt they had gauged the market well enough that any offer sheet that came their way would be an easy decision to match.

However, nothing could have prepared them for the amount or the structure of the Flyers' offer sheet. Your offer has to be big enough to give the opposing party pause, which is exactly what the Flyers' offer did. "I don't think (the Ducks) thought it was going to go here," Friedman said on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. "I don't think they thought it was going to go to 18 (million). And that is the lesson that everybody learns now, is that we better take care of our business; we better know our business; we better be sure of our business because we are now more vulnerable than ever. The NHL is changing."

Friedman also said that the morning the offer sheet was tendered, the Ducks reportedly offered a $12-13 million AAV contract extension while Carlsson's representation countered with $15 million. The Ducks said no.

We've seen teams be proactive in locking down their budding stars to long-term extensions before they ever reach restricted free agency. The Montréal Canadiens did it with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov. The New Jersey Devils did it with Jack Hughes. The Dallas Stars did it with Wyatt Johnston. The only player that Verbeek has gotten ahead of signing prior to hitting restricted free agency is defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who signed an eight-year, $72 million extension last October.

Troy Terry was arbitration eligible in 2023, when he became an RFA. He filed for arbitration and was just moments away from his arbitration hearing when his seven-year extension was finalized. Goaltender Lukáš Dostál also filed for arbitration last summer when he became an RFA, though a five-year extension was agreed to before a hearing date was ever set. Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and Mason McTavish all had their contract negotiations extend into training camp, with deals eventually agreed to. But all three of those players now no longer play for the Ducks.

Now, there's no doubt that negotiations are a two-way street, and it's a smart play for Ryan and Matt Keator (Carlsson's camp) and Kurt Overhardt (Gauthier's camp) to delay extension talks until season's end. Why sign now when you could have a breakout season and get even more in the offseason? Gauthier is not offer sheet-eligible, but Carlsson forced Verbeek's hand by accepting the Flyers' offer sheet. Would negotiations have dragged on for Carlsson as much as they had for some of his current and former teammates if he hadn't?

The Ducks have retained their No. 1 center. He was always destined for that spot after being selected with the second overall pick in the 2023 draft, but the exoduses of Zegras and now McTavish have all but cemented that. It's true, the $18 million AAV becomes quite troublesome for the 2026-27 season. With Gauthier still needing a contract and the blue line still a bit depleted after the departures of Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba and John Carlson, it's difficult to envision this season's team being much stronger than the one from this past season.

As the last six days passed by, there has been mixed reactions and debates from Ducks fans on social media about Carlsson's approach. Some of them have questioned his level of selflessness and desire to remain a Duck. He will have the opportunity to lay out his reasons when the time comes.

With the current team still needing a few reinforcements, Verbeek will have to perform surgery on his roster, working to free up salary any way he can. The most likely scenario is jettisoning Frank Vatrano and his $4.57 million cap hit to a team that needs to hit the cap floor, attaching a draft pick as compensation for doing so. On the backend, players like Tristan Luneau and Tyson Hinds will be relied on heavily to fill everyday NHL roles. 2025 10th overall pick Roger McQueen could also be in the mix for a top-6 forward role.

It wasn't going to be a pretty situation either way. You lose your budding star and No. 1 center, or you get four first-round picks and essentially have to restart your rebuild (again). Verbeek chose the option that would put him in less hot water.