The NHL offseason had been relatively quiet until Daniel Brière and the Philadelphia Flyers detonated a bombshell that sent shockwaves across the league. Their $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, worth $18 million per season over five years, forced general manager Pat Verbeek into an impossible position. Now, according to an NHL source, Anaheim has made its call.

The Ducks are reportedly set to announce later this week that they will match the offer sheet and retain Carlsson’s rights for the next five seasons at $18 million annually, according to a source who spoke with Marco Normandin of Habsolument Fan. The deal also reportedly includes close to $40 million in bonuses during the first twelve months of the contract, a particularly bitter detail given that Verbeek has historically refused to include signing bonuses in his contract negotiations.

To understand why this situation is so damaging, consider the math. At $18 million per year, Carlsson would become the highest-paid player in the entire NHL, surpassing even Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million annual salary with the Minnesota Wild. Carlsson is a tremendously promising 21-year-old center, but his current production does not yet warrant that price tag. Analysts suggest he would need to sustain a level of play he only reached during a brief 25-game stretch last season to justify the deal from day one.

That was precisely the trap Philadelphia set. Offering Carlsson’s true market value would have been easy for Anaheim to match with $38 million in cap space. The Flyers needed to go so absurdly high that the Ducks would feel real pain regardless of their decision.

The consequences of the move are already spreading. Cutter Gauthier, who scored 41 goals last season, is not eligible for an offer sheet but is certainly watching closely. Convincing a player of that caliber to accept significantly less than a teammate will now be a much harder sell. Beckett Sennecke, coming off a 60-point rookie campaign, will have similar leverage. If the trio ends up costing between $40 and $45 million combined, Anaheim’s rebuild could be crippled before it truly gets off the ground.

The damage does not stop there. Young defenseman Pavel Mintyukov also received an offer sheet in recent days, which according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, forced Anaheim to immediately negotiate upward and sign him to a five-year deal worth $7.2 million per season. The Ducks had reportedly been targeting an annual salary closer to $3 million.

The cumulative effect is staggering. Anaheim’s salary structure has been fundamentally altered by an opposing GM, with roughly $10 million per year in cap space evaporating, money that could have been used to add the missing pieces for a legitimate Stanley Cup push.

It is expected now that the Ducks will keep their franchise centerpiece, the overall pick from 2023 who posted 29 goals and 67 points in 70 games last season. But the cost of keeping him may define, and potentially doom, the rest of their rebuild in Anaheim. Some observers are already questioning whether this failure to protect the organization from outside interference could put Verbeek’s job in jeopardy.