The Edmonton Oilers and other teams in the Pacific Division should be sending flowers and chocolates to the Philadelphia Flyers front office.

A nice card should read, “Thanks for sending the Anaheim Ducks a poison pill.”

Because that’s exactly what they did in signing Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $18 million AAV offer sheet. It’s thrown a massive wrench into what Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek is trying to do, so much so it forced them into an uncomfortable five-year deal for defenceman Pavel Mintyukov that will cost $7.2 million per year. Threats of an offer sheet for the blue liner forced his hand.

As my colleague Michael Menzies pointed out in his Sunday Scramble, Verbeek has become notorious for grinding his restricted free agents to a pulp, trying to get as good a deal for his team as possible. There’s no denying that has its benefits, but what it’s done is put them into a position where they are at legitimate risk of losing their first-line centre.

I’m not as high on Carlsson, 21, as others up to this point in his career, but there’s no denying his potential, and the fact that the $18 million cap hit will be nearly impossible to live up to. But Verbeek’s unwillingness to get this deal done ahead of free agency put them in this spot. It’s a lesson you’d think general managers would’ve learned after the St. Louis Blues swept Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg away with August 2024 offer sheets.

Neither option that Verbeek and the Ducks are left with is pleasant. On one hand, matching the offer sheet cripples the Ducks’ books for years to come, but can they afford to let him walk? He’s been drafted and developed by the team since being selected second overall in the 2023 draft, and he finally had his breakout campaign this past season. It’s not like there’s a wealth of depth up the middle of the ice, either, with Mikael Granlund, Ryan Poehling, and Tim Washe as their other three centres. At the very least, 2025 10th overall pick Roger McQueen is a promising centre prospect.

On the other hand, four first-round picks as competition means some big-time buying power. They could address the missing link with those picks and set themselves up for future acquisitions. Dylan Larkin’s name is still out there, and word out of Seattle is the Kraken are willing to trade Shane Wright, although the two are in different cost brackets. Would they be willing to take a risk and see if they could fix Elias Pettersson?

Verbeek warned other general managers he would match any offer for any Duck who signed an offer sheet. How does that impact the decision the Ducks make? One has to think he has to stand by his word because if he doesn’t it could make him look weak in future contract negotiations with players of his own, or even trade negotiations.

From a Philadelphia perspective, the offer sheet makes some sense. Their centre depth, Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegas, Noah Cates and Sean Couturier, isn’t scaring anyone off, and truth be told the team has lack a true No. 1 centre for years. Carlsson is that, and he would immediately make them better. It would leave the Flyers with roughly $11.5 million in cap space, and they still need to get deals done with restricted free agents in Zegras and Jamie Drysdale. Surely, Briere and co. have a good enough idea that those two deals would come in under that mark, or the offer sheet wouldn’t have signed Carlsson.

And now, the clock ticks until next Friday afternoon.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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