The Anaheim Geese recently matched a proposal sheet signed by Leo Carlsson with the Philadelphia Flyers. Irrespective of what decision was made, Carlsson is now the NHL’s highest-paid player. It was a surprising development, and now, Carlsson’s agents are speaking about how this all got here about.
Matt and Ryan Keator sat down with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas for a special edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast. The daddy-and-son agent duo revealed that the Geese did offer Carlsson a contract before the 2025-26 season. Nevertheless, that they had no intention of signing a contract that early, considering the market.
“What we didn’t need to have occur was we didn’t want Leo to sign a contract that he would regret in relation to the marketplace in later years,” Matt Keator told Friedman on 32 Thoughts. “Now listen $80 million is loads of money, we understand that, we get that. But we’re living in a marketplace and operating throughout the NHL marketplace. Every contract that a player signs affects others around him. You will have to be cognizant about that.”
The offer from the Flyers got here in on July 1. There was no concrete deadline to sign this offer. But they did speak to a way of urgency to get a deal done as soon as possible. When it got here to signing the contract, Carlsson’s agents pointed to the front-loaded structure as a serious selling point.
“That’s up-front money. That’s money in your pocket with compound interest, so the worth’s even greater. I feel the offer he received was something that he and his family couldn’t refuse. Like The Godfather, he made him a proposal he couldn’t refuse,” Keator said.
Carlsson is coming off a season by which he scored nearly a degree per game. He scored 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games. He helped the Geese return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where they were eliminated within the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Anaheim Geese recently matched a proposal sheet signed by Leo Carlsson with the Philadelphia Flyers. Irrespective of what decision was made, Carlsson is now the NHL’s highest-paid player. It was a surprising development, and now, Carlsson’s agents are speaking about how this all got here about.