The Philadelphia Flyers made a lot of noise this week. They threw a five-year, $18 million per season offer sheet at Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson. It would have been the biggest offer sheet in NHL history. But Anaheim matched it. Carlsson stays a Duck. Done deal.
Flyers GM Daniel Briere swung and missed. That happens. But according to a well-known Flyers insider, the team shouldn’t stop swinging. Louis Cocco, who covers the team for SportsRadio WIP and hosts his own podcast, thinks Philadelphia should immediately pivot and send an offer sheet to Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard.
“I’d be way more excited for a guy like Connor Bedard,” Cocco said on social media. “I know Connor Bedard is hurt, he’s out for four months. I just think that his skill is unmatched. A lot of people think if the Flyers would offer sheet Connor Bedard, that, you know, the Blackhawks would match really at any number, probably true.”
Bedard, taken first overall in the 2023 draft, is still an unsigned restricted free agent. He also recently had surgery after getting hurt during an offseason training session in Vancouver. The recovery will keep him out for the first four months of the upcoming season.
So the timing is weird. But the logic from some fans makes a certain kind of sense. Bedard has scored 75 goals and 128 assists in 219 career games. He put up a career-high 30 goals last season. That kind of talent doesn’t grow on trees. And the Flyers, who have been hunting for a true franchise center since the days of Eric Lindros, might see this as a once-in-a-generation chance.
Would Chicago let him walk? Almost certainly not. They’d match any offer sheet, as Cocco noted. The Blackhawks have the cap space and the organizational motivation to keep their young star. But sending an offer sheet would force Chicago into a difficult financial decision, and it would at minimum make a statement that Philly is not messing around.
The offer sheet gamble that didn’t pay off
Offer sheets are rare in the NHL. Teams almost never use them. The last one that actually worked was in 2021 when the Montreal Canadiens signed Sebastian Aho away from Carolina. Wait. That’s wrong. Carolina matched. Actually, the most recent successful offer sheet was when St. Louis signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi from Montreal in 2021. So yeah. Rare.
The Flyers tried to be the exception. They offered Carlsson a contract that would have paid him $18 million per year, a number that would have required Anaheim to hand over four first-round picks as compensation if they didn’t match. Instead, the Ducks matched within hours. Briere might have to send back the receipt.
So now what? Cocco’s Bedard idea is the fun one. It’s also the one that almost certainly goes nowhere. But in a league where the Flyers have nothing to lose and a fanbase desperate for a winner, dreaming big might be the only play they have left.
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