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The news broke around noon on Thursday: The Anaheim Ducks matched the Flyers five-year, $90 million offer sheet signed by center Leo Carlsson. As a result, Carlsson will stay in Anaheim. The Flyers retain their 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 first-round Draft picks. Also, per Cap Wages, the Flyers are temporarily back to having the most cap space liquidity in the NHL for the 2026-27 season.
Flyers general manager Daniel Briere released a statement on Friday.
Three major takeaways from the Carlsson saga:
- Briere showed that he is willing to take a bold step for someone he believes is the right fit for the organization. He also had sufficient Intel (via former longtime Ducks general manager Bob Murray) to believe the Flyers had at least a viable chance of landing their target player. It didn’t work out because Anaheim, by necessity has shifted their business operations model to retain a key player.
- The Flyers are right back to where they were before the offer sheet. They ostensibly improved their goaltending, provided Joseph Woll stays healthy and Dan Vladar maintains his standards of 2025-26. They replaced Garnet Hathaway’s role with newcomer Noel Acciari. They replaced Emil Andrae with sixth or seventh defenseman candidate Simon Benoit. But they still have the same holes: They lack a 1st-line caliber center. That gap will be tough to fill, at any cost. Meanwhile, the NHL’s bottom-ranked power play still needs someone to run the point on the top unit.
- Just like a fly ball that jumps off the bat but gets caught on the warning track before it clears the fence in dead center field, there are no points awarded for a near miss. The Ducks were backed into a corner, especially after general manager Pat Verbeek pledged to match any offer sheet (after previously making clear Carlsson was untouchable in trade inquiries). They had to match or risk losing face in a major way. The internal headaches that matching could create for Anaheim are solely their own concern.
Next steps for the Flyers
It is unlikely that the Flyers immediately jump back into the offer sheet realm: an Adam Fantilli OS isn’t happening, for example. Unless an under-the-radar trade presents itself, the Flyers probable next step is to resume focusing within.
First order of business: negotiate contracts with Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale ahead of their impending arbitration hearings. This will eat a chunk of the team’s $31,499,999 of cap space. Beyond that, it’s likely the team heavily emphasizes the continued growth of young players: Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, etc.
In the bigger picture, the Flyers need to budget for contract extensions that kick in come 2027-28, namely Tyson Foerster and Vladar. Meanwhile, Michkov is a restricted free agent next summer. He’ll need an extension. His bargaining leverage will be determined by Michkov’s performance this coming season.
Defense prospect David Jiricek (acquired in the Bobby Brink trade) is no longer waiver exempt. He’s still pretty raw in various aspects of his game, especially in his defensive reads and reactions. Jiricek has shown some power play upside. However, it’s a stretch to turn the NHL power play reigns to him in the immediate future. Likewise, the Flyers believe Oliver Bonk has NHL starter upside but it’s questionable that he’s immediately ready despite a successful NHL offensive debut (one goal, one assist) and dressing in a Stanley Cup playoff game. If Bonk eventually plays on the NHL team’s power play, will it be in the bumper or at the point? He’s been more effective so far at the former than the latter, but defensemen playing in the slot on NHL power plays are very rare.
Look for upcoming Team Toyota Spotlight features on Jiricek (Sunday, July 12) and Bonk (Monday, July 13).
Trades and free agent options: centers
So far, at least, veteran Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin has remained resistant to expand his list of acceptable trade destinations. It was Larkin that requested a trade in the first place. In return, Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman stated that he cannot guarantee Larkin a new team. Yzerman has been unable to find what he’d consider an acceptable trade proposal for any of Larkin’s four approved teams: Florida, Minnesota, Vegas or Dallas.
From a hockey standpoint, Larkin would make sense for the Flyers over the next couple seasons. However, it’s a moot point.
Meanwhile, once upon a time, Shane Wright was considered a potential franchise player. One year ahead of the 2022 NHL Draft, most had him penciled as the first overall pick. He disappointed some in his Draft-eligible year but was still selected fourth overall by Seattle. His development since then has also fallen far short of expectations. This past season, Wright posted just 12 goals and 27 points in 74 games. Few consider him a first-line candidate any more. Actually, many doubt he’s destined to be on the upper end of a middle six.
It’s no secret that Wright is readily available in trade proposals to the Kraken. He’s still just 22 years old: too young to entirely write off (no pun intended) as a bust.
Nevertheless, the Flyers don’t particularly need to pin their hopes on a reclamation project center. The existing group of centers and wing-center hybrids were good enough for a 98-point season and a playoff series win. Moreover, the farm system already has number of middle-six/ fourth line types of center prospects: Jack Nesbitt, Jett Luchanko, Jack Berglund, even Heikki Ruohonen could eventually be a viable third-line or fourth line NHL center.
What the Flyers need — and likely will struggle to find now that the Carlsson offer sheet was matched — is a viable top-six kind of center with legitimate first-line upside.
Trade and free agent options: defensemen
There are still some NHL-caliber defensemen who remain in the free agent market. Others may be available by trade.
Would the Flyers try to acquire a stopgap solution? For example, John Klingberg remains an unrestricted free agent. The former Dallas Stars’ blueliner saw his stock plummet in recent years as he bounced around the NHL. He’s also had injury issues. However, when healthy, he can still contribute points and help a power play. The Flyers have the liquidity for someone like Klingberg. Meanwhile, Logan Stanley is certainly not a power Play defenseman but the 6-foot-7 brings physicality and is not devoid of other skills.
A big part of the reason why the Flyers moved on from Andrae in favor of Benoit: they felt Andrae was too small for a blueline mix that already has Drysdale and Cam York. However, strictly for argument’s sake, York’s former Michigan teammate Nick Blankenburg has very solid puck skills and brings some offense to the right side of a defense pairing. Blankenburg seems unlikely to land in Philly. He seems likelier, for one, to potentially head back to Nashville.
Likewise, 35-year-old Nick Leddy is more of a name on a UFA list than a probable target in free agency. In his prime, however, Leddy brought good puck skills to the Blackhawks and the Islanders. Those days were long ago.
Meanwhile, Carolina Hurricanes restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin would represent a bonafide upgrade to the Philly blueline. Forget an offer sheet: that’s not happening. Nikishin in ineligible for one. It would take a trade. The 24-year-old is a well-rounded player, and thrived in his first full season in North America. He brings some offense as well as aggressive physicality. Other teams have inquired about Nikishin’s availability. However, Carolina still has north of $10 million of cap space with 22 NHL roster players already signed. Eventually, the Hurricanes are most likely to get a deal done with the player. If not, this a player worth pursuing if there’s a trade to be made.
HHS Giveaway: Congratulations to Annie Urban
Courtesy of Carl’s Cards and Collectibles of Havertown, PA, Hockey Hot Stove gave away a limited edition autographed photo signed by Flyers legends Bernie Parent (RIP), Bobby Clarke, Rick MacLeish (RIP), Keith Primeau and Mike Knuble. There were only 50 of these photos signed by that combination of five Flyers Alumni.
As we’ve done with previous giveaways — and will continue to do — we selected a winner by random drawing. The winner: Annie Urban. She plans to surprise her daughter, Lucy, with the signed photo.
The contest drew more than 38,000 views on X and nearly 40K including Facebook. There were hundreds of valid entries submitted.
We’ll be doing two new ramdom drawing contests imminently: 1) Another autographed item supplied by Carl’s Cards, 2) our second Guffaw Cigar sampler pack giveaway personally signed by Flyers Hall of Famer Brian Propp. Best of luck to all!
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