Petr Mrazek. Cutter Gauthier. Jansen Harkins. Tyson Hinds. Jacob Trouba. Olen Zelwegger. Pavel Mintyukov. Radko Gudas. John Carlson. Jeffery Viel. Ian Moore. Ross Johnston. That's a dozen players for the Anaheim Ducks who are scheduled to become UFAs and RFAs come July 1st. That's a lot of solid veteran leadership combined with several young up-and-comers that the Ducks relied on to become one of the surprise teams in the NHL. Much like the Flyers, it seems that they are "ahead of schedule" with their rebuild.
Re-signing all of those players won't be easy. For example, I doubt Gauthier, with the year he's had, will be content with making $950K this season. He's due for a big raise. Many of these guys are.
However, there is a thirteenth player I haven't mentioned that might be fun for the Flyers to steal away. Sure, the Flyers and Ducks have connected on a few big trades over the last few years (Gauthier-Drysdale, Poehling-Zegras). Still, it would probably be great for the Flyers to try to acquire Anaheim's young center, Leo Carlsson
Carlsson could help the Flyers solve their center problems
Carlsson had a breakout year this season, scoring 29 goals with 38 assists. The 2023 second overall pick has already racked up 61 goals and 80 assists. The 6'3" center is starting to show why he was selected right behind Connor Bedard.
If the Flyers strike fast, they could submit an offer sheet to him and force Anaheim to pay a high price for him. Either the Ducks will have to match the offer sheet or cut their losses and figure out their priorities. The Ducks are notorious for dragging out negotiations and being cheapskates. This could lead to several teams trying to purge them of several young stars (Carlsson, Gauthier, Moore, etc.) Could Anaheim match all of them? Might they end up losing someone important?
Much like Columbus, the Ducks have young players due for pay raises and could be plucked by an aggressive team. Since we know Gauthier doesn't want to be in Philly, Carlsson would have to do. He'd be the kind of center that Flyers fans have been looking for. His size and speed would match up well with some of the younger Flyers stars.
Taking an RFA from another team is generally frowned upon by other teams. However, in this league, if you are trying to advance, you can't be nice. Sometimes you gotta go steal another player from a team that is on the rise. For the Flyers, going Duck hunting might not be a bad idea.
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