Carlsson’s Agents Spill Behind-the-Scenes Truth About Ducks Offer Sheet Drama

The Leo Carlsson offer sheet drama dates back almost a full year for fans who want to understand the details of how his new contract with the Anaheim Ducks came about. The full story behind Carlsson’s contract negotiations are finally coming into focus — and it turns out his agents had the forsight to tell their client to wait.

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Matt Keator and his son Ryan, who represent the young star, sat down for an extended interview on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts Podcast, walking through the entire 10-month process from training camp talks to the stunning offer sheet that ultimately reshaped Carlsson’s future.

Rather than pointing fingers at Anaheim, or suggest they lowballed Carlsson and got what was coming, the Keators took an different, more candid approach. They essentially said it was “their fault” that the Ducks paid as much as they did. It’s brutal news for NHL clubs trying to sign their RFAs, but it was a job well done by Carlsson’s agents.

The Ducks Tried to Get Carlsson’s Deal Done

The narrative was that the Ducks and Pat Verbeek had been lowballing Carlsson. To a degree, that’s true. Verbeek has a reputation for grinding on contracts, which ultimately came back to bite him. But, it wasn’t for a lack of trying to get Carlsson signed.

“The Ducks were aggressively trying to sign Leo all the way along. That’s their job,” Matt Keator said. “If anything, we didn’t allow them to do their job because we weren’t engaging (during the season) because we wanted to get to after the season and have our postseason meeting with Leo.”

That timeline lines up with what Verbeek said in a recent press conference. Verbeek explained he made serious offers back in September, pointing to his ability to sign defenseman Jackson LaCombe around the same time as evidence of good faith. Once the season ended, he said, talks resumed and continued right up until July 1 — but in the final days before free agency opened, he sensed the process was stalling.

“I felt that I was getting slow-walked to July 1, and from that point, I informed ownership that there could be a possible offer sheet coming our way,” Verbeek said.

That’s exactly what happened. Multiple teams were reportedly interested in making a run at Carlsson, but it was Philadelphia’s offer sheet that ultimately caught everyone off guard, particularly with how much money was structured upfront. According to the Keators, even Carlsson himself was left speechless by the terms. The fact that so much money was offered as a signing bonus, which meant the compound interest could be used to build his wealth, they couldn’t say no.

The plan to wait paid off, even more than his agents likely predicted.

Despite the dramatic turn of events, both sides seem intent that the deal got done. The Ducks wanted to keep Carlsson and Carlsson didn’t want to leave. He just couldn’t agree to the $10.5 million per season the Ducks started at, knowing that more than $80 million would be on the table.

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