Flyers see their Stanley Cup window open as they offer Leo Carlsson the richest salary in NHL history

The Summer of Bombshells continues.

The Flyers announced they have reached the end of their rebuild Friday — when they tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson for five years and $90 million. The average annual value (AAV) would be an NHL-record $18 million, at least for a while. Carlsson is a restricted free agent, so Anaheim has a week to match the offer sheet. If they do not, the Flyers would send them their next four first-round draft picks as compensation.

Carlsson would fill the massive hole in the Flyers’ lineup at the first-line center spot that has been there since they traded Claude Giroux in March of 2022 and announced the first real rebuild in franchise history. Coincidentally, Giroux, now a 38-year-old free agent, apparently is the consolation prize if the Ducks match.

» READ MORE: Flyers tender record offer sheet to Ducks center Leo Carlsson that would cost Philly four first-round picks

This is a marked departure from the Flyers’ behavior since Danny Brière became general manager in March of 2023. His moves have been conservative. His strategy has been patience. Brière, president Keith Jones, and governor Dan Hilferty have resisted adding pricey veterans and have moved on from aging players to allow younger players the ice time to blossom.

However, with every move, Brière has said:

“If something makes too much sense for the future of this organization, we’re going to take it.”

They took it.

They had to after this past season.

They discovered a franchise goalie, they saw their young core overachieve under first-year coach Rick Tocchet, they saw defenseman Travis Sanheim, 30, round into one of the best blue-liners in the game, and they realized that their window was opening a year or two earlier than they expected.

They dabbled in discussions to add other completion pieces, but, in the end, going all-in for a 21-year-old budding star in Carlsson just made too much sense.

They made the playoffs on the backs of some of those younger players, such as 21-year-old winger Matvei Michkov, in his second season, and 19-year-old winger Porter Martone, who joined the team straight from the NCAA Tournament, as well as the emergence of late-bloomer goalie Dan Vladař.

Then they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on the backs of some of those same players and, again, Vladař. He just agreed to a five-year extension, and so will be under contract for the next six seasons. Tyson Foerster, a 24-year-old winger, also had a year left on his contract when, on Wednesday, he signed an eight-year, $56.8 million extension.

Now, the Flyers have offered Carlsson the moon.

Rebuild, over.

This comes on the back of the Sixers’ surprise trade with the Celtics, in which Boston sent star swingman Jaylen Brown, 29, to Philly in exchange for broken-down Paul George, 36, and the crippling contract he carries, as well as two first-round picks and two second-round picks.

And don’t forget, last month the Eagles traded disgruntled franchise receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots.

Oh yeah: LeBron James is considering signing with the Sixers, too.

Perplexingly, the news about Carlsson might have a larger impact than any of the others — and it could have the least impact as well.

Four firsts and $90 million is a massive overpayment for a player who, after three seasons, sits firmly in the second tier of NHL stars. But prying a restricted free agent from his team always requires overpayment, and that’s why it happens so seldom.

» READ MORE: Broad Street Bullies, Redux: The Flyers are getting bigger as they’re getting better

That said, Carlsson’s goals and points totals have steadily increased, though his 67 points last season were tied with four other players for 57th in the league, including new teammate Trevor Zegras. The Flyers are banking on the ever-improving Carlsson, who possesses a tantalizing combination of size (6-foot-3, 208 pounds), speed, skill, and goal-scoring ability, growing into one of the league’s top players.

This (pending) move is sort of a bookend to the trade of Giroux to the Panthers. Part of the return from that deal was cornerstone winger Owen Tippett and a third-round pick that became promising forward Denver Barkey.

More than anything, though, this move is a recognition that the Flyers believe they are much closer to winning their first title in five decades than they’d previously advertised.

Between Vladař, Sanheim, 29-year-old All-Star wing Travis Konecny, and 33-year-old captain Sean Couturier, a former first-line center now serving the role of fourth-line defensive specialist, the Flyers have a productive veteran core. Couturier has four years left on his deal. Konecny has seven years left.

What all of that means is that there is a five- or six-year window in which, the Flyers, scanning the landscape of the NHL, believe they can win it all. And apparently, it just made too much sense to add Carlsson to this roster, regardless of the absurd price.

» READ MORE: The Jaylen Brown trade benefits VJ Edgecombe, who will now have the time he needs to develop