Flyers next move after Ducks match Leo Carlsson’s $90 million offer sheet

It was a bold move on the part of Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere earlier this month, extending a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson.

The contract carried a salary cap hit of $18 million per season, the highest of any player in NHL history. Despite the aggressive swing for the fences, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek matched the offer sheet, meaning that Carlsson is going to be with the club for the next five seasons.

He’s now the highest-paid player annually in NHL history; his $18 million cap hit beats the $17 million cap hit of Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, which kicks in next season.

Briere acknowledged the possibility of the offer sheet being matched, but also was careful to note that it doesn’t change their plans of trying to construct a team that can compete annually for the Stanley Cup.

“We understood this outcome was possible when we made the offer,” Briere said, via the Flyers official X account. “While the result isn’t what we hoped for, our goal does not change, we remain committed to pursuing every opportunity that will strengthen our team and continue to build towards becoming a consistent and perennial contender without sacrificing our future.”

That being said, the Flyers would probably be wise to shy away from extending an offer sheet and repeating the process with a pair of young restricted free agent forwards who remain unsigned in Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks and Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Even so, multiple players are still available on the open market for Briere to consider. But in the meantime, the Flyers have a couple free agents of their own they should be focusing on first.

The Flyers need to re-sign their own restricted free agents

Speaking of restricted free agents, the Flyers have a pair of them right now — defenseman Jamie Drysdale and forward Trevor Zegras.

Both players were formerly with Anaheim before being acquired in separate trades over a year apart from the Ducks, and both have become integral parts of their roster. Additionally, both players have filed for salary arbitration.

After arriving from the Ducks in the 2025 offseason, Zegras turned in one of the best campaigns of his career by establishing new personal bests with 26 goals and 67 points while appearing in 81 regular-season games; his point total was the second-highest on the Flyers’ roster. He’s coming off a three-year contract that paid him $5.75 million per season.

Meanwhile, Drysdale has turned himself into a reliable top-four defenseman on the Flyers’ blue line, while skating more than 21 minutes per night. He finished the year with eight goals and 32 points across 78 games. Like Zegras, he’s coming off a three-year contract and will want a raise from his previous salary cap hit of $2.3 million.

Depending on how their arbitration cases go, the Flyers can choose to accept the decision or do the opposite, meaning both players would immediately become unrestricted free agents and would be free to sign with any other NHL team.

Both skaters have proven themselves to be key parts of Philadelphia’s success, and it would be a considerable blow if one or both of them were to depart. Briere should act swiftly and continue negotiations with both players rather than leave them at the mercy of an arbitrator.

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