Verbeek addresses Carlsson deal, how Ducks matched and summer ahead

ANAHEIM, Calif. – After the Anaheim Ducks matched Leo Carlsson's NHL-record five-year, $18 million-per-season offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek addressed the media on a video call.

Below is a full transcript of the media call with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek on Thursday (questions and responses edited for clarity):

Pat Verbeek's Opening Statement:

First of all, we're extremely excited to have Leo Carlsson under contract for the next 5 years. certainly exciting for us. I think from the day that we drafted him, we viewed him as a cornerstone in a piece of our rebuild, and that hasn't changed. Leo and I have a great relationship, and I think that this whole thing has been worked through. My feelings for Leo hasn't changed since the day that we drafted him. The business at hand is taken care of, and now we're just, the both of us are looking forward to building off the season that we had last year, and towards winning a Stanley Cup.

I know there's probably lots of questions about the process, and I want to answer them as best I can. So, I'll just kind of lay a little timeline out. Last September, I met with the agents of Leo and Cutter, and Jackson Lacombe. I made serious and fair offers at that particular point as you saw that I was able to get Jackson LaCombe signed at that particular time. We continued to talk with Leo and Cutter during the season. And when the season ended, I immediately picked up discussions with Matt Keator, who's Leo's agent, and continued to talk all the way until July 1st. And I think it was probably three or four days before July 1st. 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, and as you saw, there was plenty of cap space. We were prepared to accept offer sheets with all the cap space that we had.

From that particular time, we had to deal with what we were gonna have. Now, did we expect the offer sheet to be this high? No. No, we did not see that one coming, but we're very confident in the sense that, with the cap going up and 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. 

Why do you think it got to the point where Leo and his camp, they felt like it was the right decision to sign an offer sheet as opposed to maybe just waiting around or trying to negotiate more with you guys?

Well, I can't speak to what they were thinking. Obviously, being a former player, there's always an excitement to have a chance to determine your destiny. And I think, in this particular case, that fits that whole narrative, and listen, his is a CBA, right, that they have, and at any point, I don't begrudge them taking that route. 

You mentioned that you felt like you were kind of getting slow-walked to July 1st. When was the last time that you guys had conversations prior to the offer sheet? 

We spoke the morning of July 2. Later that afternoon, there was an offer sheet. We had spoken all the way up until July 2.

As you mentioned, Leo's number came in higher than I think just about anybody anticipated. Pavel Mintyukov’s number as well. With Cutter Gauthier still unsigned, what approach are you gonna take with him? Do you think you might have to move a contract to be able to accommodate his salary?

Well, the intention is to get Cutter signed. I think that obviously, wherever Cutter comes in, I'm gonna have some work to do to make sure that we can fit everyone in. I've got two and a half months to figure that out, and we'll go through that process for the rest of the summer. 

Just looking back on the off season to date, is there anything you might have done differently if you had to do it over again or maybe a change in emphasis? And does this maybe shift the way you'll deal with RFAs in the future?

With RFAs, I think the increased cap space is certainly lent to different circumstances, and I think this offer sheet is going to be felt around the rest of the league. Certainly, we are going to have to do business in a different type of manner moving forward, and we will make the adjustments that we have to make to maintain and to keep pushing forward to helping our team win a Stanley Cup.

About the timing of it, since you were sort of anticipating that, as you said, you were being walked to July 1, what's the reasoning behind waiting nearly the full week in order to sort of make the announcement and at what point did you fully know that you were going to be matching?

Well, I think we went through our due diligence. We have multiple discussions with my inner circle, with ownership. You make calls around the rest of the league, you explore things, and, and obviously, the compensation was four first round picks. So, we looked at that closely, and I think, as we started to–the more discussions that we had, it became an easier decision. It was speaking to us that we need to match the offer sheet. 

And then a follow up on that, just to conversations with ownership, given the structure of the deal. Can you tell us anything about those conversations from the standpoint of the cash outlay through the signing bonuses? 

Well, I mean, the contract’s the contract. We do our contracts in different styles. When you're faced with this sort of predicament, you match what's on the offer sheet, and our owner was never in doubt about matching the sheet when it came to for the money that was outlaid. 

In the statement, you and the Samuelis both said it was an easy decision to make, but it's still just a lot of money to commit–largest contract in NHL history and things like that. What was the initial reaction from yourself and from the Samuelis when you approached them with this?

It was surprising to say the least, but I actually feel flattered in the sense that Philadelphia wanted such a great player. It means that we're doing a very good job on our end, and we feel that Leo, at some point–I wouldn't say next year–but over the course of this contract is going to show the elite player that he is, and it's gonna give us great reasons for why we match this offer. 

And when it comes to negotiating the rest of the salary cup, whether it's this year or next year, it seems like you're going to have to make some sort of moves to tighten this thing up, and are you happy with where some of those position groups are, particularly the young defense group, or are you still looking to augment that if you can? 

No, I'm very happy. We've got good young defense. When I look at our defense, most of them played in the playoffs last year and got good experience there. The only one that hasn't is Tristan Luneau, who we see as making the team next year, and he's a guy that scored a huge goal for us just to help us make the playoffs. So I feel very confident with our defense. When you look through them, Jackson LaCombe four-plus years, Minyukov four-plus years. Helleson’s on his third year. And they're older. It's not like they're 20-year-old kids. They're now 23 with Tyson Hinds. They've got enough pro experience that I feel comfortable with them moving forward and also with our coaching staff being able to help them exponentially improve over the course of the season. 

How much of this as you were going through this process and arrived at this decision, did you guys conclude that $18 million was going to be the going rate for an elite center in this league? And how much is your belief that Leo will be there?

Players like Leo don't come along very often. He has elite skill, elite vision, and an ability to be able to–his speed is also, and he's able to go east-west, just as fast as he can north-south. So I think the size of what has played a lot into it. I think Leo is very smart. He's a 200-foot player. And I just think, with his ability, he makes players around him much better. You just don't come across these types of players. And I think at some point, maybe not next year, but in the near future, that it's going to prove true. 

Right now, Leo is gonna have this “highest-paid player in the league” tag. That may not last for very long. Who knows? We'll see. 

No, I don't anticipating it lasting very long. I think, certainly, there's a lot of other young, young stars out there, and there's probably some veterans that are really good players, too, gonna be coming up soon. And that market will change again. So, I think as you look at all of this, the cap is going up, and there's gonna have to be adjustments in the marketplace from everybody. Whether that's the managers, whether that's the agents and the players. So there will be adjustments made across the board, and at some point, this whole marketplace will settle in, and we'll have a really good idea of how things are, what comparables each player will have moving forward.

But there will be pressure on Leo that comes with that. Certainly heightened. How do you think he'll handle that?

Initially, the money is probably gonna be… I think the pressure's gonna be more to win than versus the money. And I think we all want to win, and I think players will put pressure on themselves to win. Leo wants to win more than anybody. So I think that's the pressure he's going to put on himself or feel. It won't be any different if he was making a million dollars versus $18 million. 

You obviously talked about what this will do in terms of impacting what you will do for the rest of the summer and this coming season here. In the bigger picture, I know Beckett is down the line, but if he keeps putting up numbers, he could certainly be in the line for his own big deal. And you got Cutter. You could have a lot of money tied up in four players. How will that impact the cup contending team that you want to build, the one that you've talked about building a sustainable one that's going to be a cup contender for several years? 

I think that the nice part is we've drafted well. I feel we drafted well, and we have more support coming up underneath from the players that we have currently on our roster. Certainly, you're gonna have to look for different ways how to build the team, and I think that I'm not really too concerned about it, because, ultimately, 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 talent to go with them. So I'm not worried about it at all.

How much does the expectations of him going into the next season change, now that he has this kind of contract?

Well, I don't think the contract, the expectations are gonna be pushed only because when you project these young players, you want them to keep taking steps each and every year. And I think from Leo's case, he's been on a nice trajectory. We'd like it to kind of go a little, like a little more steeper, like it take a little bigger jump than kind of the jump that he made from last year. So for me, it's not the expectations aren't like needing to go through the roof. We just want to keep building. I think the most important thing for Leo is to keep continuing to put weight on and to keep continuing to get stronger. And within a year or two, I think you're gonna start seeing an unreal version of Leo Carlson. 

You spoke about it earlier with other players in the league being good and talented and young players coming in being talented. What is it that makes Leo worth this kind of contract for you guys?

He's highly skilled. He's fast. He creates a lot of speed through the neutral zone. He pushes defensemen back. His vision's incredible, and he has a great hockey sense. Obviously the play baking ability is elite, but I think where he's really gonna take a nice step is in his goal-scoring. And he's just really starting to learn how to score goals, and I think that's where we'll see a nice increase with Leo.

You said this contract is kind of structured differently than the ownership in your organization, usually structures their contracts, but the fact that they were so quick to say, hey, we're gonna match. How big is that for you and for your inner circle down the road when you are going to have to negotiate these contracts and another issue similar to this could come up? How important is it for you to know that you have their support, seemingly no matter what?

It's great. You talk about contracts, but I think every negotiation's different. And this is kind of been something that has been more forced on us than than how we like to do contracts, but, knowing our owner and he wants to win, just like I do, and we're gonna do what needs to be done to win.

Standing outside the circle and watching the growth of this franchise has been spectacular, and what you've done to recapture the enthusiasm in Orange Country, but this stunning loss of veterans on the blue line. Three who were allowed to leave as free agents, and then the Buffalo trade. Was that salary cap driven? Was that talent driven? Was that age driven? 'Cause my sense is, all of a sudden, it doesn't look like you have the same roster that captured the enthusiasm last year as you forged your way into the playoffs. What’s your read of what happened?

We had John Carlson and Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba, when you get to the age of the players, we have young up and coming players, and we have to allow them room to be able to grow as well. The older guys provided a lot of stability, but at this point, for me, it's important that our younger guys be allowed to spread their wings as well, and to gain more experience when this team is really ready take on and start winning consistently in the playoffs.

As it relates to the surprise loss of Matt McIlvane going to Boston, time frame, and what type of personality do you need to coach your Gulls franchise? Because this has been a really well received franchise in the San Diego community when the product has been good, and you've had a couple of good teachers as head coaches here, how quickly do you fill it, and what's the profile of what you need to fill it?

Well, we've actually got–we haven't announced it yet, but that will be coming in due time. We have all three coaches hired, and we will do that at the appropriate time.

The potential of an offer sheet, how much of a factor did that play a role in the moves we saw earlier with Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger? 

I think prior to Mason and even Olen like we still had plenty of space. I just think that there were moves to help create some openings in other areas, and so that's kind of how I viewed those moves. And I think that as we acquired Wahlberg, who was a really up and coming, good left winger, and we're looking to fill some spots in the future. So, those moves were kind of made, and I mentioned this before, but I probably wouldn't have traded Mason McTavish if Nikita Klepov wasn't there, and we were able to get a very talented winger. scoring winger with Marcus Nordmark. So, um, it kind of set the tone, to kind of get our young skill deeper into the organization, and it also allows Roger McQueen to develop at a little slower rate and not push him into the fray quickly with having Granlund at the 2C. All these moves were kind of made to kind of move some pieces around the chessboard, so to speak.

It sounds like getting Cutter Gauthier resigned is obviously a priority of what you have to do, but you're not maybe looking to make any more additions or upgrades. Obviously, if it's a slam dunk move, you're gonna do it, but you're not aggressively seeking to make any more. Is this essentially the opening night roster?

Well, that's hard to say. I still have two months of work to do, so you can ask me that question September 30. We brought in, obviously, Jeff Mallot. We brought in AJ Greer, kind of shore up different holes in our lineup. I think in Greer's case, I think he's kind of an elevator player in the sense that he can move up and down the lineup on either side of the ice, so that gives Coach Q options. Mallet gives us really good size and speed. Something that we were looking to improve there with our fourth line with more speed. I think we've attacked a few areas that we've thought were needing some improvements. And I feel good about it. I really do. 

I was just curious why you guys decided to put out a statement beforehand that you guys would match any offer sheet that Leo would sign?

I'm not sure why you would ask that question other than the statement speaks for itself. 

There was a report that, before they signed the offer sheet, that they had come to you with a number, and there was a counter, and then that was just kind of the offer sheet went, is that true?

No, that's false. 

A lot of these negotiations in the last few years with the RFAs have gone into training camp, but obviously both parties want to find a fair deal that works for both of them. How is the process of being, not a tough negotiator but a fair negotiator, how's that process been for you over the last year now with Leo's deal?

Well, I think that moving forward now, we're gonna have to make adjustments. If I look at things, it's certainly–it's my job to make sure that we can fit everybody in under the cap. You want to get the best players you possibly can in those circumstances. And I think that it would be very easy just to give the players everything they wanted every time. Those negotiations would go rather quickly. But obviously, we can't do that, and so things drag out sometimes longer than you want them to, but that's the process. We're gonna keep working through trying to make sure that we can get good deals for the team.

With Troy Terry being out for as long as he's going to be out, is there any desire to get some sort of scoring help there for that wing side?

We believe we got Sam Colangelo in the wings. He's going to get a good opportunity to get into the lineup. The part that I think that everybody's nervous about, we have players underneath that are pushing to get a chance. And so, like I said before, we feel comfortable with the players that we have waiting in the wings to get their opportunity to play for the Ducks.

With how this week has gone, has this impacted your outlook on the negotiations with Cutter, if at all?

No, nothing's going to change there. We'll continue to negotiate and try and find common ground, and then, hopefully, at some point, we can strike a deal.

How different were these Leo negotiations than the ones for, say, Trevor, Mason, and Jamie? Because there's perception, there's reality. One can have more layers than the other, and I think you answered the perception thing earlier, but how different were these talks with Leo?

I think every agent has a different style. I haven't dealt with every agent in the league, and so part of that whole process is feeling out how that's going to go, and sometimes it happens together quickly, and sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes each side keeps arguing their points. And there's constantly discussions back and forth all the time. None of this is kind of a surprise for me, or for anybody. Some of these things go fast, and sometimes they don't.