July 03, 2026
John E. Sokolowski/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Leo Carlsson is the Flyers' big swing to land a star center. Now it's a wait to see if it works.
Just when general manager Danny Brière set the expectation that the Flyers still had some waiting to do, they pulled a fast one and took their big swing after a star.
The Flyers have tendered a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks top center Leo Carlsson, the organization announced Friday. The deal would pay an enormous annual cap hit of $18 million per season, but the Flyers have the space and the benefit of a rising salary cap of up to $123 million by 2028.
If the offer sheet isn't matched and Carlsson becomes theirs, the organization would also have to forfeit four first-round draft picks over the next four years back to Anaheim.
But it would all mean the Flyers finally getting that star center they've been looking for at the top of their lineup, and at 21 years old so that he would grow with them for years.
It's a huge risk, but Brière just took the leap on it being worth it.
The Ducks now have seven days to match the offer, which stands as a serious challenge to Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek after the Ducks and Flyers have seemed to enjoy a friendly trade partnership over the past couple of years – between the deals involving Cutter Gauthier, Jamie Drysdale, and Trevor Zegras.
And so the wait begins.
We have tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim center Leo Carlsson. The offer is a five-year contract worth an average annual value (AAV) of $18M, which would require four of the Flyers first-round draft picks in each of the next four seasons as compensation. https://t.co/nfhD4h6nEc
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 3, 2026
Carlsson was the second overall pick by the Ducks in the 2023 NHL Draft, and by his Year 3 this past season, he became a clear No. 1 two-way center for Anaheim during its own breakthrough into the playoffs, and figured to be one of the league's premier stars down the middle for the next decade to come.
But now it's a matter of whether he'll be that star in Philadelphia, potentially skating with other young centerpieces like Tyson Foerster, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, or maybe even the veteran Travis Konecny on his wings.
Carlsson was a 29-goal and 67-point scorer with a plus-4 rating this past regular season. Then in the playoffs, he scored four goals and 11 points through 12 postseason games as the Ducks upset the Oilers in the first round, then pushed the Vegas Golden Knights to six games in the second.
And he only figures to have much more in him in the years ahead, with Brière and the Flyers hoping it will all be in Philadelphia in a few days' time.
The Flyers said they would have no further comment on Carlsson until Anaheim makes a decision.
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