The Philadelphia Flyers shocked the hockey world when they signed Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet carrying an $18 million average annual value.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, who decided to match the offer sheet on Thursday, put himself in this position when he publicly stated he would match any offer sheet for his 21-year-old franchise center.
As Verbeek weighed whether to match the deal or accept four first-round picks as compensation, teams around the league reportedly began exploring offer sheets for his young defenseman, Pavel Mintyukov.
Anaheim quickly took care of that, signing the 22-year-old to a five-year contract worth $7.2 million annually. A player signed to a contract is no longer offer-sheet eligible.
After matching Carlsson’s offer sheet and signing Mintyukov, the Ducks sit with just under $9.073 million in available cap space.
While that seems like a healthy amount of cap space, Anaheim also needs to sign restricted free-agent forward Cutter Gauthier, who just scored 41 goals.
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Gauthier gets a three-year bridge deal worth $9 million annually. Maybe they look to sign him long-term and lock him up for eight years at north of $10 million, given his expected growth.
However Gauthier’s contract negotiations play out, there’s likely a need for Verbeek to shed cap.
The New York Islanders may be able to help.