Leo Carlsson signed a five-year, $92 million contract with the Anaheim Ducks this summer, and the ripple effects across the league have been massive. According to Carlsson himself, plenty of players are grateful for it.
The Flyers tendered an offer sheet on July 3, an $18 million cap hit that briefly made Carlsson the highest-paid player in the league. The Anaheim Ducks matched it on July 9 rather than surrender four first-round picks, and the market has been resetting ever since.
Players are thanking Leo Carlsson
Connor Bedard signed for $15 million a season in Chicago, Macklin Celebrini landed $18.8 million in San Jose, and Cale Makar pushed the ceiling even higher in Colorado at $20.4 million. Even players with far less name recognition cashed in, with the Vancouver Canucks handing Zeev Buium $9.38 million a year over eight seasons.
Speaking at the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, Carlsson addressed just how the rest of the league has reacted to a deal that reshaped the pay scale almost overnight.
“Players are thanking me,” Carlsson told The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus.
Carlsson said he understood the deal would shake things up around the league, even if it wasn’t the driving factor behind signing it. “[It] was obviously a huge deal for the league,” he said. “But I didn’t really think much about that, at that time.”
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The deal hasn’t come without a cost closer to home. With Anaheim’s cap space squeezed by Carlsson’s new number, longtime winger Chris Kreider was placed on unconditional waivers this week so the Ducks could terminate the final year of his contract, according to Elliotte Friedman. Carlsson didn’t shy away from addressing that fallout either.
“Chris, he’s leaving, but he’s also really happy for me, as well,” Carlsson said, per Lazerus. “It’s a hard business.”
Carlsson posted 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games last season at just 21 years old, and the market has already decided that’s worth building a franchise’s cap sheet around.
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