Leo Carlsson has Joel Quenneville staring at Anaheim's toughest call of the summer.
Jeff Marek's latest read on the situation lands where Anaheim fans feared it might: matching Carlsson's reported offer sheet gets a lot harder after Pavel Mintyukov's new deal.
Philadelphia's swing is massive. Carlsson signed a 5-year offer sheet carrying an $18 million AAV, which shoved Anaheim into a deadline decision right away.
The pressure is even heavier because the deal is front-loaded. Carlsson is set to earn about $39 million over the next 12 months, and the Ducks have 7 days to match or let him go.
Then Anaheim moved on Mintyukov. The Ducks signed the young defenseman to a 5-year contract worth $36 million, good for a $7.2 million AAV.
That wasn't a depth signing. That was Pat Verbeek trying to shut one door before another rival club pushed it open.
Carlsson already looked like the franchise center piece. He put up 67 points in 70 games, and that kind of breakout usually ends with a long-term commitment, not a staring contest.
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The Ducks now have a difficult Leo Carlsson decision after their latest signing
Anaheim just came off a 43-33-6 season and reached the second round. This isn't a patient rebuild anymore, and Quenneville isn't coaching a soft-launch roster.
Mintyukov matters here because he played 73 games last season and posted 22 points from the blue line. On a team still building its next core, that's a real workload and a real role.
He also finished with 112 blocks and 39 hits. That's not top-pair production yet, but it's enough usage to tell you Anaheim sees him as more than a sheltered young defender.
Now the whole discussion shifts to roster stress. Verbeek can talk about keeping the core together, but once Carlsson's number jumps to $18 million, every other negotiation feels tighter.
That's why Marek's point hits. Mintyukov at $7.2 million doesn't just add cost. It changes Anaheim's leverage, and it makes Carlsson's reported price tag look even tougher to swallow in one shot.
Quenneville can live with big tickets when the player drives your top six every night. The problem for Anaheim is that this one decision now reaches from the middle of the lineup to the blue line and straight into the front office.
Should the Ducks match Leo Carlsson's reported offer sheet?
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