- An NHL executive called Anaheim’s handling of Leo Carlsson a “fireable offense” in Greg Wyshynski’s ESPN column
- Carlsson said last summer he would have signed for around $9.5 million before the Flyers’ $18 million offer sheet
- Read below for what Pat Verbeek said, the numbers, and why the Ducks’ young core keeps shrinking
Pat Verbeek is getting torched for how the Ducks handled Leo Carlsson.
Greg Wyshynski put Anaheim’s situation in the “not an overreaction” pile in his ESPN column, and one NHL executive he spoke to went even harder:
“I really think it’s a fireable offense.”
The Ducks held an exclusive negotiating window with Carlsson for months and came away with nothing. Then the market moved on them.
Philadelphia jumped in with a five-year offer sheet worth $18 million a season, the richest cap hit in hockey outside of a couple of pending deals.
Philadelphia made it official:
Here’s the part that stings for Anaheim. Carlsson sat down with fellow Swede Elias Pettersson for Daily Faceoff last summer and made it clear he wanted to get something done.
“I’d take that, for sure,” Carlsson said when Pettersson floated an eight-year deal at $9.5 million per season.
That’s nearly half of what he’s set to earn now. Verbeek told Victory+ back in January that the Ducks “tabled” talks with their restricted free agents so the group could focus on the playoffs. Anaheim then lost in the second round.
Look past Carlsson and it gets uglier. Jamie Drysdale, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras and Olen Zellweger are all gone. The wave of young talent that was supposed to carry the Ducks for a decade has mostly scattered.
Take a look at what Anaheim is trying to keep:
If Carlsson’s next contract builds on this one, the Samueli family will have paid tens of millions extra for a center Verbeek could have locked up cheap. That’s the math the Ducks GM has to answer for.
