Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers changed the NHL’s contract landscape this summer by signing Leo Carlsson to a massive offer sheet that the Anaheim Ducks eventually matched, and it turns out they weren’t alone in their thinking.
During a recent interview on Morning Cuppa Hockey, one of Carlsson’s agents, Ryan Keator, revealed that it only took four minutes for teams to begin reaching out with interest in the young star center, and that a total of eight teams reached out. Four of those were very serious and two made firm offers, one of course being the Flyers.
“For the process how it starts is teams are allowed to reach out to a restricted free agent on the offer sheet on the last day of June, I believe it was June 30th this year my father got his first text at 12:04 AM on June 30 from the first team. We had a total of about eight teams reach out, four that were really serious, and two firm offers. Obviously one of them was Philly. The other one we’ll save for after Leo’s retired,”
The Ducks, of course, wound up matching the offer sheet, in turn extending the 21-year-old Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million contract. He’s coming off a 67-point (29 goals, 38 assists) 2025-26 campaign in 70 games played.
While we don’t know, and likely won’t know for some time, just how much interest Carlsson garnered as an unsigned RFA, it’s still fascinating to hear just how many teams were interested in him. It should also serve as a reminder for teams not to let their young talent reach July 1 in the first place.
Anaheim has already felt the effects of waiting and ultimately having to pay what many believe was an overpay to keep Carlsson, and it’s something that will continue to impact the construction of their roster moving forward.
Next: Oilers Legend Mark Messier Pushes Back on Mike Babcock Hiring
