Crazy hostile bid for Leo Carlsson: the Habs are the only winners

Mathis Therrien
Crazy hostile bid for Leo Carlsson: the Habs are the only winners
Credit: Capture d'écran/Twitter

The National Hockey League was rocked yesterday by a completely outrageous hostile offer, as the Philadelphia Flyers offered a five-year contract worth $18 million annually (!!!) to Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks.

Pat Verbeek and the Ducks now have one week to match this offer—or else trade Carlsson to the Flyers in exchange for four first-round picks.

It's an insane contract and an insane annual salary, considering it will make Carlsson the highest-paid player in the NHL for the 2026–2027 season, ahead of Kirill Kaprizov and his $17 million annual salary.

So this is a huge shock for the Anaheim Ducks, who find themselves stuck with this offer, but it's also a major blow to the rest of the NHL—except for one team.

Indeed, seeing a talented 20-year-old player receive such a contract sets the bar very high for all the young players who will be signing contracts soon and in the years to come.

Such a figure puts just about every team in a bind—except the Montreal Canadiens, who have already signed all the young players in their core to long-term contracts at more than reasonable rates.

The Habs therefore emerge as the sole winner of this crazy hostile offer sheet made to Leo Carlsson.

That's what Grant McCagg said yesterday on the HabsCast podcast, and he's right, given that no other team besides the Habs has all its young, talented players under contract for at least four years or more at very solid salaries.

The Habs don't have any major contracts to sign between now and 2030, which puts them in an excellent position—with no player earning more than $10 million, while Noah Dobson is the team's highest-paid player at $9.5 million.

In the summer of 2030, captain Nick Suzuki and Jakub Dobes will be up for re-signing, but otherwise, the Habs' other key players will still be under contract at excellent value.

The $18 million offer to Leo Carlsson has just upended all future contract offers to young players, putting the Habs in the best possible position—especially with the recent contract extension offered to Ivan Demidov (8 years x $9.15 million).

Kent Hughes has always been brilliant at signing his young players a year in advance—as soon as he was allowed to—to avoid ending up in a terrible position like the Anaheim Ducks are in right now.

The Ducks put themselves at risk, and they're paying the price right now, with Daniel Brière having stood his ground—and clearly still holding a grudge over the whole Cutter Gauthier situation.

In short, the Canadiens are in business—and will be for a long time—with a maximum of two big contracts to renegotiate per year through 2035.

Meanwhile, the other 31 NHL teams have clearly been scratching their heads and sweating it out ever since Carlsson accepted the Flyers' hostile offer.


In a Nutshell

– Nice contract.

– Wow.

– Well done.

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