Tight cap space and tough negotiations could leave young blueliners like Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov vulnerable as rival GMs look to exploit Anaheim’s roster construction and looming extension costs.
Every NHL offseason, like clockwork, the potential of teams utilizing their ability to sign opposing players to offer sheets is dangled over fans and interested parties like a carrot on a stick.
Offer sheets are the rarest tool utilized at the disposal of NHL general managers, and it’s unlikely that rate will increase in the 2026 offseason. With an ever-increasing salary cap, most teams are in a position to match most offer sheets that would potentially come their way.
For more information on how offer sheets work, head to puckpedia.com for detailed explanations and compensation information
The Anaheim Ducks offer an intriguing scenario, however, with some tantalizing pieces that teams may zero in on for potential offer sheets if they need to add key pieces to their roster in the late summer (August projects as the optimal time in the offseason to utilize offer sheets, as it follows the draft and free agency, with the landscape becoming clearer).
The Ducks enter the offseason with four high-profile RFAs in need of new contracts before the 2026-27 season: Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger. They will have a projected $38.8 million in cap space, which, on the surface, wouldn’t cause them to jump off the page as a team susceptible to offer sheets.
Gauthier, who is ineligible to sign an offer sheet, and Carlsson, of whom the Ducks would likely match any that comes his way, are projected to consume more than half of the team’s projected available cap space with big-money contract extensions. That leaves surprisingly little money for Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek to build an entirely new right side of the blueline, upgrade other areas of the depth chart, and re-sign his remaining RFAs.
Big name RFAs are the unlikely of the unlikely when it comes to potential offer sheet targets. Names like Connor Bedard, Jason Robertson, Leo Carlsson, and Adam Fantilli can all be dismissed as potential targets. However, the second or third tiers of RFAs are the ones that can typically be acquired.
Which brings us to Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.
Verbeek has been a notoriously tough negotiator with RFA roster players coming off their entry-level contracts, and especially so when it seems like a certain player’s future is questionable with the Ducks organization.
Zellweger (22) is as skilled and hardworking as they come, but after his second full season in the NHL, he was healthy scratched for nine of the Ducks’ 12 playoff games in favor of Tyson Hinds this spring. He wasn’t drafted by Verbeek (34th overall in 2021) and doesn’t fit the archetype of defenseman that Verbeek covets. His future with the Ducks can be very much questioned. If a team were to send an offer sheet Zellweger’s way in the first and third-round pick compensation range ($4,775,667-$7,163,498), the Ducks would surely pass on matching, and if a team were to push the upper limits of the second-round draft pick compensation tier ($2,387,833-$4,775,666), one could question if Verbeek would match as well.
Mintyukov (22) was Verbeek’s first-ever draft pick (10th in ’22) as an NHL general manager, after taking over the Ducks’ job in Feb. 2022. After some healthy scratches early in the season, Mintyukov relayed a desire to move on from the Ducks if they didn’t intend to play him regularly. His games and ice time increased as the 2025-26 season progressed, and he was integral to the team’s advancement to the second round.
His lack of offensive development and overall impact to this point in his career, compounded with the early-season trade suggestion, has left some to question his future with the Ducks organization. If an opposing team were to sign him to an offer sheet in the second-round draft pick or first and third-round pick compensation ranges, like with Zellweger, Verbeek may have a long think about whether to match.
If the Ducks sign Carlsson and Gauthier to a roughly combined AAV of $21 million, as they’re projected to receive via AFP Analytics, they’ll have $17 million to fill out their roster. They have holes on the right side of their blueline and could stand to improve the top nine of their forward group as well.
The Ducks could be well up against the cap come August, after the dust of free agency has settled. There’s a believable scenario where they wouldn’t be able to match an offer sheet for Mintyukov or Zellweger if they’re unsigned to extensions by then. There’s also a scenario where Verbeek simply opts not to match a potential offer sheet, depending on the range for compensation.
This will be a telling and impactful offseason for the Ducks’ growth and progression as a franchise. Offer sheets could provide a significant wrinkle to Verbeek’s ultimate plans.
