Ducks match Leo Carlsson's $90 million offer sheet: Anaheim star tops list of NHL's highest-paid players

The Anaheim Ducks didn't need the full seven days to decide whether to match the Philadelphia Flyers' record five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson. Just a few days after Carlsson signed the Flyers' offer, the Ducks announced that they had matched the deal, keeping the Swedish center in Anaheim and making him the highest-paid player in NHL history.

Philadelphia rocked the hockey world last week when they signed Carlsson, and the $18 million AAV was lofty enough that there was uncertainty about whether Anaheim would match the deal. The Ducks could've let Carlsson walk and taken four first-round picks from the Flyers, but they chose to keep their franchise cornerstone instead.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, Carlsson is still blossoming into a superstar No. 1 center. He took a big step in that direction last season when he posted 29 goals and 38 assists in 70 games. Perhaps more importantly, Carlsson's five-on-five game showed major improvement as the Ducks controlled 53.4% of the expected goals with him on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick.

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Carlsson still has work to do in order to become an $18 million player, but he's on the right track. Even if Carlsson doesn't quite get all the way there, he should come close, and the rising salary cap will take away some of the sticker shock over the next several years.

Still, the Ducks were in a legitimate bind, and they still are to a certain degree. After Carlsson signed his offer sheet, Anaheim wanted to avoid a similar situation with 22-year-old defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, so the team locked him in on a five-year, $36 million deal. Mintyukov is a gifted player, but he has very real holes in his game defensively, so that was a desperate gamble on the part of the Ducks.

Now, Anaheim has just over $9 million in salary cap space and another major restricted free agent to sign. Cutter Gauthier, 22, just posted a 41-goal season and needs a new contract. His annual number will almost certainly come in over $10 million, so the Ducks have some maneuvering to do, and that doesn't even take into account the fact that the team doesn't even have six NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster.

Pat Verbeek still has a lot of work ahead of him, but at least he knows his best player is signed through the next five seasons. Now he just needs to figure out what to do with the pieces around Carlsson.

Carlsson is now the NHL's highest-paid player

This contract makes Carlsson the highest-paid player in NHL history on an annual basis. He topped Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov's record ($17 million), which was set last summer.

That puts a lot of pressure on Carlsson to perform as a true superstar because players making several million dollars less than him already have Hart Trophy wins, Rocket Richard trophies and Stanley Cup rings. Some of that is simply timing. As the salary cap rises, contracts explode, and Carlsson just happens to be latest star player to get a new deal.

When Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid sign new contracts in a couple of years, their annual salaries will rival or surpass that of Carlsson. That said, heavy is the head that wears the crown, and the Ducks are counting on Carlsson to step into an elite tier moving forward.

Highest-paid players in the 2026-27 season

1. Leo Carlsson (ANA)

$18 million

2. Kirill Kaprizov (MIN)

$17 million

3. Leon Draisaitl (EDM)

$14 million

4. Jack Eichel (VGK)

$13.5 million

5. Auston Matthews (TOR)

$13.25 million

6. Nathan MacKinnon (COL)

$12.6 million

7. Connor McDavid (EDM)

$12.5 million

T-8. Mitch Marner (VGK)

$12 million

T-8. Mikko Rantanen (DAL)

$12 million

T-8. Kyle Connor (WPG)

$12 million

There are a few players who could join this list in short order. Connor Bedard is still a restricted free agent -- and despite his recent shoulder injury, he should still get a hefty payday from the Chicago Blackhawks. Plus, superstar defensemen Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are eligible for extensions, and those contracts will reset the market for that position.