- Ducks matched the Flyers’ five-year, $90 million offer sheet to keep Leo Carlsson
- Carlsson called the wait “probably the weirdest week in my life” and said Anaheim was always home
- Read below for the 21-year-old’s full reaction to the richest contract in the NHL
Leo Carlsson got the ending he was hoping for.
The Ducks matched the five-year, $90 million offer sheet he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, and the 21-year-old center sounded like a guy who never wanted to pack his bags in the first place.
Carlsson was asked how it felt to finally have the saga wrapped up. “I always wanted to be a Duck,” he said. “It’s home too. So just super excited to be back.”
Anaheim made it official:
That $18 million average salary makes Carlsson the highest-paid player in the NHL by yearly money. Turning it down was never really on the table.
“It’s kind of like an offer that I think everybody would sign too,” Carlsson said. “It changed my family and all that too. So it’s a pretty simple answer there. But I always wanted to be here too. I just really hoped they would match.”
The week of waiting still wore on him. Carlsson called it “probably the weirdest week in my life” and tried to keep busy at his home in Sweden.
“Trying to not think about it that much, just kind of work out, do stuff, hang out, play golf, hang out with friends,” he said.
Hear Carlsson break the whole thing down:
He leaned on his Ducks teammates through the wait, and every one of them told him the same thing.
“I don’t think I had one bad reaction,” Carlsson said. “They were all super happy for me, super stoked for me. They just said that I deserve it. And they hoped that I stayed.”
The relief hit the moment the news came down. “I’m super relieved. My mom is relieved too,” Carlsson said. “She’s been stressing for a while now this week, so it’s super nice to get it done.”
Now the second overall pick from 2023 is locked into Anaheim through 2031, and the Ducks have their franchise center signed at the biggest cap hit in the league.
