It’s July 8, and two days from now the landscape for the Philadelphia Flyers will be a lot clearer. Right now things are in an antsy holding pattern. The offer sheet to Leo Carlsson might have pushed Claude Giroux’s possible signing off the table, while kicking the extensions to Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale down the road a bit. If Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek and his owner agree to bite the bullet and pay the 21-year-old center a whack of coin over the next 12 months, then he’s staying put. If not, then the Flyers are with Toronto’s first round pick in 2027, and no other firsts for some the next four years. However, they will have one of the league’s youngest and best all-around centers.
In the bigger picture, regardless of what happens, some believe Briere has discovered that offer sheets are possible, and will now rely on that rarely-used option to pilfer other clubs of their talent. And that’s just not the case. In the three years and change Briere has been the Flyers general manager, Leo Carlsson isn’t the first player to be a restricted free agent and not quite in sync with their club or general manager when it comes to compensation. The Oilers had Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg in the same proverbial situation in 2024 as Carlsson: players who had more money staring them in the face elsewhere. They took it, as St. Louis extended offer sheets to both. Briere wasn’t up in arms about that particular move, nor was he critical of the move Blues general manager Doug Armstrong made. The two players agreed to the contracts offered them. The Oilers told both goodbye, and received picks in return. And hockey circles went to bed safe in the knowledge one general manager might have rocked the boat, but not truly altered the landscape.
The knock on the Carlsson offer sheet, according to some, is how dare Briere offer that amount of money to a player. They would prefer he simply wait for his draft picks to develop, or sign an aging superstar — if they become available — to a deal that doesn’t provide nearly the same value as Carlsson. “It’s just not fair for Briere to do this!” they’ve stated. That or he won’t be able to do business with some general managers as a result. Such moronic reasoning, if extrapolated, would make trades as daring as offer sheets. After all, why should you try and get the better player or package in a trade when you might upset the other general manager? The heck with your team, worry about the other general managers! Without elaborating further, it’s a foolish argument. End of story.
Not the start of Briere’s offer sheet bonanza
Having said that, one shouldn’t believe Briere is going to use the offer sheet option elsewhere if the Carlsson offer sheet is matched. Briere’s credo is “it has to make sense,” regardless of the transaction or the impact of the move. If he had a nickel for every time he said that phrase in the last three years, he could pay a large chunk of the $90 million to Carlsson himself. That’s not up for debate. The decision to move on Carlsson is pretty straightforward. Anaheim had the last 12 months to sew up Carlsson to a contract extension. The deal never came through. Given his age, production, size, and two-way play, Carlsson is everything Briere has desired in a top-line center since he got here. He’s the total package. As well, Carlsson agreed to the contract. Nobody forced him to sign. It was of his own volition.
Again, all of this will be clarified on Friday. Should Anaheim match, then the dream of landing Carlsson was just that. However, Briere doesn’t have six or seven offer sheets waiting in the wings on other players. Considering many suspected Briere’s move could be the catalyst for a flurry of offer sheets, there’s been zero since Philadelphia extended theirs last Friday. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Whether old-school general managers will be sticks in the mud and refuse to use it, or players are hesitant to jump into such unchartered waters, the Carlsson offer sheet appears to be more of a one-off (a big one at that) than anything else. Especially for Briere. Some suggest should Carlsson stay put, then Briere is automatically going to begin looking a bit further west to Columbus where 21-year-old center Adam Fantilli is waiting in the wings for Briere’s call.
Fantilli has his strengths, fits the same demographic as Carlsson, but it would appear that other teams might be interested in Fantilli also. Fantilli would have to agree to the contract extension with the offer sheet club. So, for all the speculation, he could also be working on a new contract with Blue Jackets manager Don Waddell and be happy to continue playing in Ohio. If he isn’t, that doesn’t mean he’s specifically looking at Philadelphia as his prime destination based on the money they offered Carlsson. Just because Carlsson was offered $90 million doesn’t mean Briere is giving $90 million (or in that ballpark) to the next available center. As well, the Blue Jackets aren’t hard pressed with their cap structure to nickel and dime Fantilli the way Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek did with Carlsson. They have over $21 million in cap space, with just Fantilli, goaltender Jet Greaves and forward Cole Sillinger as restricted free agents. Unless some team bowled Fantilli over with the maximum offer sheet cap hit (over $20 million), it’s doubtful Columbus wouldn’t match the offer.
Another player who is a current restricted free agent is Detroit blueliner Simon Edvinsson, the 6-foot-6, 222-pound youngster who’s had two consecutive strong seasons. Again, Briere could see Edvinsson as a great addition given his size and physicality. But does it make sense and is he even that high-end defenseman that the team needs? He certainly isn’t already a No. 1 blueliner and hasn’t even been close to the Red Wings’ power play. So, the fit might not be there.
The Flyers don’t have six stud number one defensemen, but they have a sextet (or septet with Simon Benoit) that can do the job for now. As well, Detroit has over $18 million in cap space with next to no business to do this summer regarding RFAs, which is plenty of money to keep Edvinsson happy. They just have the Dylan Larkin migraine to deal with and that could potentially create even more cap space to re-sign Edvinsson or match what offer sheet comes their way.
Moving forward
Looking ahead to next season, there might be one or two centers available through an offer sheet. That’s provided they’re not locked up, and some general managers haven’t learned their lesson this summer. Detroit’s Marco Kasper, the Devils’ Dawson Mercer, and Boston’s Fraser Minten are three centers who might be looked upon by other teams as a means to improve if they haven’t come to an agreement with their respective clubs. None of them will be mistaken for Leo Carlsson, which makes this current Philadelphia offer sheet such a rarity.
There are only two players who are as game-changing of a player as Carlsson would be with the Flyers who would be eligible for an offer sheet next summer. One is Macklin Celebrini. And of course, he’s signing his contract extension well before July 1, 2027 — at least a smart general manager would do that. The other, is already on the Flyers and that’s Matvei Michkov. So, the offer sheet is a path that might be once again empty for Briere next summer.
Briere might get flack from the league from those still stuck in the old ways of doing business in a stagnant, pandemic-riddled cap structure. And that’s fine. What’s evident is that Briere spotted an opportunity to make a major, franchise-altering move in trying to land Carlsson. It’s his first offer sheet as a general manager. And he could not have concocted a more perfect player to fill such an obvious need. Regardless of how it plays out, it’s highly unlikely this becomes the first of many such offer sheets from Briere. It probably puts more players on notice that teams are willing to pay for talent they need. And more general managers on notice they can’t scrimp on their elite talent like some have done in the past.
