Филадельфия Флайерс багийн санал болгосон 90 сая долларын өртөгтэй гэрээг Анахайм Дакс хүлээн зөвшөөрснөөр Лео Карлссон багтаа үлдэхээр боллоо.
NHL-ийн зуны солилцооны цонхны хамгийн дуулиантай үйл явдлуудын нэг нь Лео Карлссонд ирсэн 90 сая долларын үнийн санал байв. Филадельфия Флайерс багийн зүгээс таван жилийн хугацаатай гэрээг санал болгосон ч Анахайм Дакс уг саналыг хүлээн авч, 21 настай Шведийн довтлогчийг багтаа авч үлдсэн юм. Энэхүү үйл явдлыг Анахайм Дакс багийн хаалгач Лукаш Достал бизнесийн хэвийн үйл явц хэмээн дүгнэж, багийн нөхрөө өндөр гэрээ байгуулсанд баяртай байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ.
Лео Карлссон өнгөрсөн улиралд 70 тоглолтод оролцож 29 гоол, 67 оноо авсан амжилтаар карьерынхаа дээд амжилтыг тогтоосон билээ. Түүний энэхүү амжилт нь NHL-ийн зах зээл дээрх үнэлэмжийг өсгөж, улмаар Коннор Бедард, Маклин Селлебрини нарын адил өндөр дүнтэй гэрээ байгуулах нөхцөлийг бүрдүүлсэн юм. Хэдийгээр энэ гэрээ нь Анахайм Дакс багийн цалингийн цэсэнд тодорхой ачаалал үүсгэж байгаа ч Лукаш Достал багийн залуу бүрэлдэхүүний ирээдүйд итгэлтэй байна.
Өнгөрсөн улирлын плей-оффын шатанд Эдмонтон Ойлерс багийг хожиж, Вегас Голден Найтс багт хожигдсон туршлага нь багийн залуучуудад том түлхэц болжээ. Одоогийн байдлаар Анахайм Дакс баг довтлогч Каттер Готьетой шинэ гэрээ байгуулахаар ажиллаж байна. Лукаш Достал өөрийн биеэр 2025 оны долдугаар сард 32.5 сая долларын өртөгтэй, таван жилийн гэрээ байгуулсан туршлага дээрээ үндэслэн, Лео Карлссоныг 2031 он хүртэл багтаа үлдэж байгаа нь хамгийн чухал үр дүн гэдгийг онцоллоо.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
MUNICH — When the NHL’s biggest offseason bombshell dropped on a Friday night in early July, Lukáš Dostál didn’t see it coming.
He hadn’t even really heard whispers about the possibility that Anaheim Ducks teammate Leo Carlsson might get an offer sheet — let alone the $90 million, five-year whopper he ended up signing with the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I had no idea because the offer sheets, they don’t happen often,” Dostál told The Athletic during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour. “I didn’t really think about it.”
Indeed, Carlsson was just the sixth NHL player in the past 12 years to sign an offer sheet.
The news arrived while Dostál was eating dinner back home in Czechia, but it wasn’t as difficult for the 26-year-old goaltender to digest as you might imagine. He’d been through his own contract negotiation with the Ducks a year earlier — signing a $32.5 million, five-year extension in July 2025 — and gained an understanding of the process.
Plus he’d seen Carlsson develop into one of the game’s most promising young centers over three seasons playing together. Selected as the No. 2 pick in 2023, Carlsson hit career highs with 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games in his third NHL season.
Why sports leagues finally embraced Las Vegas
Tifo Sports
“There’s nothing bad to think of it,” Dostál said. “It’s a business. That’s what happens in the NHL. Money has to go somewhere, and I’m just so happy for Leo that he got what he wanted. I think he deserves it, and I’m just so happy that he’s going to stay in Anaheim with us because he’s a tremendous player. His IQ is just through the roof. I’m just so happy for him.”
Truth be told, Carlsson got even more than he once imagined. His agents, Matt and Ryan Keator, wisely held off on engaging in serious negotiations with the Ducks and general manager Pat Verbeek throughout the year while recognizing the uncertainty of an evolving NHL marketplace fueled by a surging salary cap.
That put the 21-year-old Swede in position to be in the right place at the right time with multiple teams interested in tendering him an offer sheet once the summer arrived.
The $18 million average-annual-value offer sheet extended by the Flyers made him the NHL’s highest-paid player — and required the Flyers to sacrifice four first-round picks as compensation — and still it was matched by Anaheim on July 9. That contract shifted the market before Connor Bedard’s $15 million AAV was locked in by the Chicago Blackhawks on July 18 and Macklin Celebrini landed an extension carrying an $18.8 million AAV from the San Jose Sharks on July 29.
“It’s great for the game that players are getting paid,” said Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl, whose own $14 million AAV was surpassed by all three of those younger peers.
“It’s the way it should be,” National Hockey League Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh told The Athletic. “When the salary cap was instituted (in 2005), you capped the salaries. It’s still capped with the salary cap. But having players exercise their rights? They should be. I mean in the past they haven’t. I appreciate a player giving a hometown discount to a team, but I really appreciate when a player is getting what they deserve.”
Carlsson’s monster raise clouded Anaheim’s cap picture in the short term. The team had already lost veteran defensemen Jacob Trouba, John Carlson and Radko Gudas to free agency following a run to Round 2 of the playoffs, while also parting with forward Mason McTavish and defenseman Olen Zellweger in trades to the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres, respectively.
And with training camp approaching, the Ducks are still working toward a new deal for forward Cutter Gauthier — a restricted free agent coming off a 41-goal season, albeit without the service time necessary to receive an offer sheet of his own.
Still, amid the roster uncertainty, Dostál can’t help but have a sunny outlook on what’s to come in Anaheim. Not only did the Ducks make their first playoff appearance since 2018 last spring, but they also dispatched the favored Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 before falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
“That experience, obviously it’s going to drive you,” Dostál said. “Even now when we sit here and I’m just talking about it, I’m not saying I have goosebumps, but it’s like you want to play playoff hockey every single season. It was just so much fun.
“It was a big thing for us in that growth because we still have a young core. We still have a lot of guys that are learning. Obviously next year, the way it seems like right now the team’s going to be on paper maybe even younger. It’s going to be cool to see all the guys playing together as a young core.”
Dostál backstopped Czechia to gold at the 2024 World Championship and figures to be a key part of that core, along with Carlsson, Gauthier, winger Beckett Sennecke and defenseman Jackson LaCombe.
And even though it took an offer sheet to get Carlsson’s signature on a contract, there’s every reason to expect his production and impact to skyrocket alongside his salary. That’s why Dostál believes how his teammate got the new deal is not nearly as important as the fact that he’s now under contract with the Ducks through 2031.
“Ultimately, I’m just a goaltender, I’m just trying to stop the puck,” Dostál said. “The business side of it, it’s really not my job to discuss. You can have some opinions, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because the only opinion that matters is, like, I’m just so happy that we had a chance to keep Leo.”
Sure, but does he think Carlsson should treat his Ducks teammates to a nice dinner once they all get back to California this fall?
“Well, I’m sure he will,” Dostál said. “Maybe two.”
