Pat Verbeek has a major decision to make after Leo Carlsson accepted the Philadelphia Flyers’ five-year offer sheet, with NHL insider Elliotte Friedman questioning how the Ducks handled the situation.
Speaking on the latest episode of 32 Thoughts, Friedman said the Ducks were not expecting the move. If Anaheim matches the five-year deal, Carlsson would become the NHL’s highest-paid player at $18 million per season.
“He (Pat Verbeek) didn’t see this coming. He has lost control, unfortunately for him, of the structure of his organization. Who knows where this goes, but the Ducks might never be the same again.”
The Ducks now have seven days to decide whether to match the offer sheet. Multiple reports have indicated Anaheim is expected to do so, but matching the contract would leave the Ducks with much less cap space to work with.
If Carlsson’s deal is matched, Anaheim would have roughly $17 million in cap space left to negotiate new contracts with other restricted free agents, including Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov and Tyson Hinds.
Pat Verbeek had hoped to avoid a prolonged negotiation
Before the Flyers submitted their offer sheet, Pat Verbeek had made it clear he wanted to finalize contract talks with Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier before training camp.
Speaking after the season in May, the Ducks general manager said he hoped to get both deals done as quickly as possible.
“In a perfect scenario, I’d like to get them done in a week here,” Verbeek said. “I’m hoping for the best to try and make sure everybody’s excited for training camp and all of us are happy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball to say how it’s going to go.”
He also acknowledged that getting a deal done would take cooperation from both sides.
“I’d like to get it done as soon as possible, but we all have to cooperate with one another. That’s the goal.”
Verbeek signed a multi-year contract extension with Anaheim in April after guiding the Ducks back to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. He was also a finalist for the 2025-26 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
Edited by Sonali Verma