The Ducks and GM Pat Verbeek went from masterclass rebuild to disaster-class offseason, and now the question has become whether this summer’s losses on the lineup card and balance sheet alike lowered their ceiling.
While the statement from owners Henry and Susan Samueli praised executive of the year finalist Verbeek for “intelligently” leaving enough salary-cap space to match the cumbersome, front-loaded offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, the reality was that he was outwitted by Carlsson’s representation at the Win Hockey Agency.
Verbeek said he made “serious and fair offers” ahead of last season to Carlsson, leading scorer Cutter Gauthier and top defenseman Jackson LaCombe. While he was able to sign LaCombe to a deal that has already aged nicely, he could not obviate restricted free agency for Carlsson, Gauthier and blue-liner Pavel Mintyukov.
He resumed talks after the season. But unlike other clubs –– the Kings with Brandt Clarke this summer, the Edmonton Oilers with Evan Bouchard last year and the Montreal Canadiens with their own stellar young core –– the Ducks were unable to sign their three significant RFAs ahead of July 1, a date toward which Verbeek said he was being “slow-walked” by Carlsson’s reps.
“There was plenty of cap space. We were prepared to accept offer sheets with all the cap space that we had,” Verbeek said on Thursday. “Now, did we expect the offer sheet to be this high? No. We did not see that one coming, but … with the cap going up and with the ability of Leo to make great strides of improvement and become an elite player, we feel confident that this contract will be a good one in the end.”
Clearly Carlsson’s camp, which was not alone based on multiple conversations SCNG had with agents during last season, and Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere clearly had a vastly different assessment of the market for Carlsson and other premium RFAs.
“It was just too good to pass on,” said Carlsson of Philly’s bonus-heavy, five-year, $90 million offer, adding that he relished the pressure of now being the league’s best-compensated player. “I think everybody understands that, too. I talked to my teammates a lot, and everybody was just super happy for me and supportive with the decisions I made.”
Unlike prior hardball negotiations with Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish, Verbeek and Carlsson were negotiating with both more urgency and higher figures. But in the end, Carlsson’s salary skyrocketed to $18 million annually, while Mintyukov also went from projections in the $3 million to $5 million range all the way above $7 million against a backdrop of an escalating cap ceiling.
“With RFAs, I think the increased cap space has certainly led to different circumstances, and I think this offer sheet is going to be felt around the rest of the league. So certainly we are going to have to do business in a different type of manner moving forward, and so we will make the adjustments that we have to make to maintain and to keep pushing forward toward helping our team win a Stanley Cup.”
Yet even by conservative estimates, the overages on Carlsson and Mintyukov’s cap hits, both of which bought just one year of unrestricted free agency due to their five-year terms, likely cost the Ducks an opportunity at a solid second-line forward or second-pairing defenseman.
That came on the heels of an offseason that already saw the Ducks, who qualified for the playoffs for the first time in eight campaigns, lose experience and depth in large measure. Four of their top defenseman departed, three right-side veterans in free agency and another cost-controlled ascendant asset, Olen Zellweger, was moved via trade. There was also some shifting up front, though A.J. Greer and Jeff Malott were brought in as replacements with some snarl, and veteran Nick Jensen arrived on the back end.
McTavish was also moved for draft assets that were unlikely to help the Ducks immediately. McTavish was tied for the team’s highest-paid forward last season after signing an extension during training camp. His cap savings, some $7 million, and Zellweger’s, another $3 million, appeared to give the Ducks sprawling space under the salary cap.
Yet now, after the costly retention of Carlsson and Mintyukov, the Ducks do not appear to have enough flexibility left to sign Gauthier, even though he is eligible for neither an offer sheet nor salary arbitration. Extending Gauthier will likely require shedding a contract or two, and possibly at a cost. Upgrading their defense or finding a suitable stand-in for winger Troy Terry, who could be out until the calendar turns, recovering from hip surgery, would be utterly fanciful.
Verbeek, who was candid in his remarks Thursday, framed the events as “surprising, to say the least,” yet also “flattering” in the sense that the Flyers so desirously pursued a player the Ducks drafted and developed.
That drafting and development will be all the more vital moving forward, with the Ducks’ timeline extending but perhaps not darkening as a result of a one-blow-after-another summer.
“I feel we’ve drafted well, and we have more support coming underneath from the players that we have currently on our roster. Certainly, we’re going to have to look for different ways how to build a team, and I think that I’m not really too concerned about it because ultimately, you have to build,” Verbeek said. “You have your core players, and you have to build around them. And we will find those players that can kind of fit the contracts and the talent to go with them, so I’m not worried about it at all.”