The Ducks matched the Flyers’ five-year, $90M offer sheet to C Leo Carlsson, and Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said the deal is “going to be felt around the rest of the league,” according to Mike Brehm of USA TODAY. Verbeek added, “We’re going to have to do business in a different type of manner moving forward.” Brehm noted the $18M average annual value on the offer sheet makes Carlsson the “highest-paid player in the NHL.” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said, “Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision” (USA TODAY, 7/9). Brehm in a separate piece wrote the salary cap is going up and “salaries are now soaring.” A $20M contract or a max contract (20% of the salary cap) “seems possible soon.” Restricted free agents “could argue for more money, too,” though GMs will “have to remind them that the offer sheet was an extraordinary circumstance.” But teams will “try to lock up their players early to prevent the possibility of an offer sheet” (USA TODAY, 7/9).
IMPACTS MOVING FORWARD: The AP’s Greg Beacham wrote Carlsson “might have affected the NHL’s entire salary structure going forward with this new benchmark for young talent amid a rising salary cap.” Future negotiations will reveal whether Flyers GM Danny Briere “forever altered the hockey talent market.” The structure of the Flyers’ offer sheet also “front-loaded Carlsson’s contract with enormous signing bonuses in another departure from most NHL contracts” (AP, 7/9).
LOSERS AND WINNERS: ESPN.com’s Greg Wyshynski wrote Verbeek was a “loser” in this situation, as he is “absolutely at fault for allowing the Flyers to extend an offer sheet to his top center.” One NHL exec said it was a “fireable offense.” Wyshynski wrote now the Ducks “must suffer the fallout.” Wyshynski noted a “winner” in this are “restricted free agents -- and their agents.” All those “years of offer sheet hype finally led to a massive, league-shaking one being tendered to a young star.” The salary cap is “going up substantially each season.” Because of that, the unrestricted free agent pool “has been drained,” with teams “signing their own players or trading them away years before they can hit the UFA market, to teams that then sign them to long-term deals.” But this new generation of NHL execs “doesn’t seem shy about tendering offer sheets or using their leverage to force deals.” This new generation of players “doesn’t seem shy about signing them, either.” The result is “huge contracts for players that might have otherwise been squeezed by their teams, and a new pressure point for RFAs to use in negotiations” (ESPN.com, 7/9).
