Leo Carlsson is playing well under contract pressure

Even with immense pressure on his shoulders, Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson seems to be fitting the bill so far.

This summer, Carlsson made headlines by signing an offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, with the deal carrying an AAV of $18 million across five seasons. The Ducks were able to match the contract, making the Swede the highest-paid player in the league (for now).

With that, there’s a lot of expectation for the youngster to perform. Through the first week of the year, he has done just that. Through two games, the 21-year-old has posted a goal and five points, helping Anaheim score victories over the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton break down Carlsson’s hot start to the 2026-27 season.

Carter Hutton: The factor is like he’s under a lot of pressure under the microscope. This whole Ducks team is in a situation where, you know, the offer sheet and the Cutter Gauthier drama, and then the contracts that were given out to players that have played 14 games. So, for Leo Carlsson to come up, answer the bell, and play as well as he did last night, I thought he was unbelievable. So he’s my man of the weekend.

Tyler Yaremchuk: You want to talk about getting off to a good start, and what that can mean for a player…we even talked about them naming Mikael Granlund their captain. Everyone was kind of like, ‘Whoa, what about one of the young guys, like Leo Carlson? You just gave $18 million to?’ We both agreed that you got to protect the young player too, because if he would have started slow, and I’m not saying it’s fair or whatever, but there might have been some animosity from that fan base if he started slow…’We just gave you how much money, and you’re not holding up your end of the bargain.’ … The way the fan base can kind of hold the big contract against you. So, for Carlsson, and my point is to get off to such a strong start here, and to just probably for himself, just be able to like exhale and say, ‘Hey, like I still got it.’ Like, I think that’s important for a young guy.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…