The Anaheim Ducks matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet for Leo Carlsson, keeping the 2023 No. 2 pick in town for the long haul. Philadelphia tried to pry him loose with an $18 million per season deal, but the Ducks blinked first and paid up. That move has changed the landscape for every team with a young restricted free agent.
Carlsson, coming off a 29-goal, 67-point season, is now locked in. But the offer sheet — the second one matched this summer after Utah kept Barrett Hayton from New Jersey for just $5 million over one year — signals that the old unwritten rule about not touching another team’s RFAs is dead. St. Louis stole Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from Edmonton in 2024. Carolina swiped Jesperi Kotkaniemi from Montreal in 2021. It’s not open season exactly, but it’s close.
Now teams have to think about who could get targeted next. And two names stand out.
Connor Bedard Is a Target Despite Injury Concerns
Bedard is 21 with three NHL seasons already under his belt. The Blackhawks took him first overall in 2023. He scored 30 goals and added 45 assists in 69 games last year. Those are elite numbers even if he hasn’t fully arrived as a superstar yet.
But there’s a catch. Bedard hurt his right shoulder badly his rookie year and then hurt his left shoulder this offseason during a workout. The current injury is expected to keep him off the ice for three to four months. He probably won’t be back until mid-November and will need another few weeks to get up to game speed after that.
Two non-contact shoulder injuries in two years is a red flag. It might be a big reason Chicago hasn’t signed him long-term yet. General manager Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks front office have to decide what to do with their franchise center. Meanwhile another team could slide in with an offer Bedard might not refuse.
Chicago isn’t good. They haven’t come close to the playoffs in any of Bedard’s three seasons. This summer they made Bowen Byram their big defenseman addition. Byram can skate and handle the puck, but he’s not Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes. He’s not a guy who takes over games. That swing might have missed.
If Bedard has doubts about the Blackhawks’ future, and if a team comes with a monster long-term offer, it’s hard to imagine him saying no.
Adam Fantilli Could Get the Same Treatment
Fantilli went No. 3 overall in 2023, right after Bedard and Carlsson. He’s a 6-foot-2, 205-pound center who looks like a first-line pivot for the next decade. Columbus will have him between Kirill Marchenko and Val Nichushkin this season.
He made $950,000 each of the last three years. Now he’s a restricted free agent. His numbers through three seasons are nearly identical to Carlsson’s. Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell knows the market just jumped. If he doesn’t come with a much bigger offer than he planned on, some other team will.
The offer sheet era is here to stay. The only question is which young star gets the next one.
Leave a Comment