Danny Briere’s aggressive summer has a potential cost, at least according to one prominent insider. On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said the Flyers GM has become “a target” of rival executives after Philadelphia’s offer sheet for Anaheim center Leo Carlsson, and he cautioned that the move could invite the same treatment on the Flyers’ own young players.
The backdrop: Philadelphia, fresh off a second-round playoff run and loaded with young talent and draft capital, fired off an offer sheet worth $18 million per year over five years for Carlsson, a restricted free agent. That number would have made him the NHL’s highest-paid player by annual salary and sat well above what Anaheim had been prepared to pay. The Ducks faced a July 10 deadline to match or surrender four first-round picks to Philadelphia, and they ultimately matched to keep him.
Friedman’s point is about what comes next. He pointed to how the Carolina Hurricanes have played the offer-sheet game while protecting their own roster, and he argued Philadelphia now has to do the same. In his telling, teams that go this route know someone may come after their players eventually, so they guard the ones they value most. A rival stung by the Carlsson bid could look to pry away a top young Flyer down the line.
That threat isn’t immediate. Matvei Michkov becomes a restricted free agent next year, with his long-term future still to be sorted. The bigger crunch arrives in 2028, when Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk and Alex Bump are due for new deals, followed by Porter Martone in 2029. Locking those players into extensions before they reach that point now looms as a priority for Briere.
For a preview of the downside, Briere only has to look at his counterpart. Anaheim’s Pat Verbeek had to match a contract richer than he wanted to pay, eating a sizable chunk of cap space to keep Carlsson in the process.
