Philadelphia Flyers sign RFA Leo Carlsson to 5-year, $90 million offer sheet
The Philadelphia Flyers' long search for a franchise, top-line center may be over.
The Flyers on Friday signed 21-year-old restricted free agent Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet, the team said.
The contract carries an $18 million annual average value and will be the highest cap hit in the NHL.
The Anaheim Ducks have seven days to match the offer sheet or receive four first-round draft picks from the Flyers as compensation.
"The Flyers will have no further comment until Anaheim makes their decision to match the terms of the offer or accept the compensation of draft picks," Flyers general manager Danny Briere said in a statement.
The Ducks have said they would match any offer sheet tendered to Carlsson and Briere and the Flyers are forcing their hand. According to PuckPedia, the Ducks have about $35 million in cap space.
Carlsson was drafted second overall in the 2023 NHL draft and is coming off a career season in 2025-26.
The 6-foot-2, 208-pound pivot set career highs in goals (29), assists (38) and points (67) in 70 regular-season games for the Ducks. He added four goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games.
In his three-year career, Carlsson has 141 points in 201 games.
By tendering an offer sheet to Carlsson, Briere is taking his biggest swing yet as general manager. Hired to help guide the Flyers through a rebuild, the orange and black have slowly put themselves back on the sports map in Philadelphia.
The Flyers returned to the playoffs in 2025-26 and won their first non-bubble playoff series in 14 years by eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. They then went on to get swept by the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes.
What was also 14 years ago? The Flyers signed defenseman Shea Weber to a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet that the Nashville Predators ended up matching — Weber's contract officially expired this summer.
The Flyers have been looking for a way to land a No. 1 center without having to select at the top of the draft. They've maintained that they could rebuild without tanking and by signing Carlsson to an offer sheet, they're showing they're willing to be bold.
The Ducks may end up matching the offer sheet, meaning the Flyers went big fish hunting and still came up empty.
But Briere and the Flyers' front office decided the time was now, after all, to put some chips on the table.
The clock is now ticking. Within the next seven days, the Flyers will find out if they landed their "white buffalo" or if the search goes on. Stay tuned.
