The Anaheim Ducks matched a five-year offer sheet extended to Leo Carlsson by the Flyers.

The contract, which boasts an average annual value of $18 million, will begin this upcoming season and last through the 2030-31 campaign.

The deal makes Carlsson, 21, the highest-paid player in the NHL.

“Matching the offer sheet was an easy decision, as [general manager] Pat [Verbeek] has intelligently left enough cap space to give us the ability to retain Leo,” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said.

“We have extremely high expectations for Leo. We firmly believe he will continue his strong growth trajectory and become one of the truly elite centers in the league, while continuing to make a strong impact in our community.”

Carlsson recorded 67 points in 70 games for Anaheim last season. His 29 goals were the second-most goals in a single season by a Ducks player 21 or younger.

“We are very happy to have Leo under contract for five years,” Verbeek said. “We have viewed Leo as a franchise player since the moment we met him prior to the 2023 draft. He’s a character person on and off the ice. Leo is viewed as a top player in this league, and it was always our intention to match any offer sheet.”

Anaheim selected Carlsson second overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, and he’s since appeared in 201 NHL games and earned 141 points.

In 12 postseason games, Carlsson recorded 11 points to lead all NHL players 21 and younger in postseason points and assists.

He was named to the Swedish Olympic team for Milano Cortina 2026, but did not play due to injury. He donned the Sweden jersey in the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off, and appeared in two World Championships and one World Junior Championship.

Try this on for size.

The Islanders are letting fans design the team’s alternate jersey for the 2027-28 season, down to the tiniest details like shoulder patches and trim — and the winner gets to be there in person to see their product debut on the ice.

“In the end, you’re going to end up with a jersey that the fans like, and the players like — and hopefully that’s the one that you want to win a Cup in,” Isles president of business operations Kelly Cheeseman told The Post. 

The team launched an online portal, islesjerseybuilder.com, where diehards can begin with a jersey-style layout in familiar formats like the 1990s-revived fisherman wave and classic NYI style. 

It also introduces fresh takes on former looks, like repurposing the font format from the team’s fan-panned black, gray and orange jerseys circa 2011. 

There were more than 11,000 entries in the first four hours of going live Wednesday, well ahead of the July 24 deadline. 

Cheeseman said fans have been rabid with “conspiracy theories” about the Islanders’ jersey future and past — like the team’s sweaters that featured only an “NY” without the backdrop of Long Island — well before the contest launched.

“You see a lot of debate about an all-orange jersey, and whether that should be back,” added Cheeseman of the popular mid-2000s alternate.

“I just love all that chatter. It just brings the passion of the fan base forward. When there’s that irrational talk about anything in sports, that’s what real fan bases dream about.”

Unusual hues of gold, red, green and purple are up for grabs, in addition to the Islanders’ usual blue-and-orange palette and its variations. 

Cheeseman, who had similar success with the fan concept in 2013 with the MLS’ LA Galaxy, doubled down on the point that team staff and the athletes will have a final say as a fail-safe against any popular but outlandish submissions that receive high votes. 

“I think really getting the players involved, so that they’re picking what they want to wear, that’s to me always the most important part of the jersey uniform process,” he said.

“When they’re putting it on, they’ve got to feel like, ‘All right, I want to win a game’ and not to feel all goofy.” 

That’s not to say creativity isn’t encouraged, according to Cheeseman, who called the contest “kind of a tease” to the team’s hometown remix jerseys for this upcoming season.

“There’s even areas where fans can add notes at the end of their jersey. If you weren’t able to completely capture your concept and idea, tell us what notes you have,” he said.

“It’s the jersey of the people — and the team of the people.”

The Blackhawks will be shorthanded to start the 2026-27 season.

The team announced star Connor Bedard underwent surgery on his left shoulder Wednesday after he crashed into the boards during training with Kaivo Hockey in Vancouver earlier this month.

“We expect him to make a full recovery in an approximate timeline of four months,” the team said in a statement.

The recovery timeline would likely bring him back to action in November, meaning Bedard, currently a restricted free agent, would miss at least the first month of the season, which will open in late September due to the expansion to 84 games.

“Obviously a superb young talent,” free agent addition Ian Cole said of Bedard on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, yeah, it sounds like it’s going to be a little later than originally anticipated, but you know, he seems like a great guy.”

Bedard, who turns 21 later this month, has now suffered two shoulder injuries within the past year. In December, he injured his right shoulder taking a faceoff against the Blues, which caused him to miss four weeks.

It’s a sizable blow to a rebuilding Chicago, as Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, led the team with 75 points in 69 games last season as he notched his first 30-goal campaign. Bedard won the Calder Trophy as the league’s Rookie of the Year in the 2023-24 season. Across his career, he’s recorded 203 points in 219 games.

But entering his fourth season in the NHL, he has yet to see the playoffs.

The Blackhawks finished 31st in the NHL each of the past three seasons.

They made a big offseason splash in acquiring defenseman Bowen Byram from the Sabres ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft, sending the Nos. 4 and 45 overall picks to Buffalo. They promptly inked him to a six-year contract extension worth $75 million, giving him the highest average annual value ($12.5 million) among blueliners in the league.