Both flashy and steady, Ducks’ Leo Carlsson has arrived as franchise center
The 2023 NHL Draft Lottery shook up the foundation of the league.
The Chicago Blackhawks jumped the Anaheim Ducks to grab the No. 1 overall pick and the opportunity to select a slam-dunk franchise superstar in Connor Bedard. That meant the Ducks, coming off a 23-47-12 season and in dire need of such a player, were going to have to choose between centers Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson, and hope one of them could turn things around.
Fantilli, fresh off a Hobey Baker win as the top player in NCAA hockey, was seen as the consensus number two player available in the draft. The majority of rankings had him above Carlsson, as did most mock drafts predicting which way the Ducks would go.
But general manager Pat Verbeek and his scouts zagged. They took Carlsson.
“I think in the end, we were really intrigued with his hockey IQ, his creativity,” Verbeek told NHL.com after the pick. “Obviously, he’s got really good size, and probably what I loved about him is really his two-way game, and I think there’s a potential for him to really be a dominant player at both ends of the ice.”
Now, nearly 36 months later, Verbeek’s vision has fully materialized. After Carlsson’s third NHL season and in the midst of a surprising run past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Swede has arrived as one of the very best centers in the NHL.
Carlsson had a solid but unspectacular sophomore season in 2024-25 that saw him post 45 points in 76 games as Anaheim went 35-37-10, finishing 16 points out of a playoff spot in a year that cost Greg Cronin his job as head coach.
That opened the door for the Ducks to hire three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Joel Quenneville. The league reinstated him from a suspension following his involvement in the organizational lack of response to a sexual assault accusation levied against former Chicago Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich by former Blackhawks forward Kyle Beach in 2010.
With Quenneville behind the bench, Carlsson quickly gained the trust of one of the most successful coaches in recent NHL history. After logging just 16:14 per game a year ago, the Swede logged more time on ice than that in all but two games in October. In 10 games in the season’s first month, Carlsson had 15 points, and he was just getting started.
Following a win over the New York Rangers on Dec. 15, Carlsson was up to 17 goals, 24 assists and 41 points in 34 games played. He was 19th in the NHL in points per 60 minutes, and he and his teammates had the Ducks first in the Pacific Division with a 20-12-2 record.
“Obviously this is a different team,” Carlsson told Daily Faceoff following that win over the Rangers. “We’re a much better team, that helps… [Quenneville] is the best coach I’ve ever had. All those things together is making it a lot easier for me. I’m growing, too. One extra summer does a lot for a guy my age. [I’m] more confident and comfortable out there.”
It’s hard to overstate the degree to which that confidence and comfort was required for Carlsson to take the leap from solid to excellent. There are few players in the NHL who can match the combination of size, speed and handles that the 21-year-old possesses. Feeling the faith of a coach to allow a gifted player to pick their spots to take risks, to create outside of structure, is exactly what a developing player needs to make the plays few in the world can make.
Of course, talented young offensive stars often take such confidence too far. It’s not uncommon to see someone cheat the game defensively in a quest to hunt more and more offensive opportunities, eventually becoming a net-negative in the process.
Not Carlsson.
Like many gifted Swedish centers before him, Nicklas Backstrom and Henrik Zetterberg spring to mind, Carlsson is willing and able as a penalty killer and does whatever it takes to limit quality chances for the opposing team. His 53.37% expected goals share at 5-on-5 this season ranked third among Anaheim’s 18 regular skaters.
“I might not be able to score 120 points in the league, but I want to [play an important role] and be a 200-foot player,” Carlsson explained.
It was around then that Carlsson’s breakthrough season, one that looked destined to have him in conversations for major award recognition, came to a screeching halt. A dip in production made it clear he was playing through something, and then on Jan. 16, the Ducks announced that he would miss three to five weeks following a surgery to treat a Morel-Lavallée lesion in his left thigh.
That setback cost Carlsson not just the momentum he and the Ducks had built, but also a golden opportunity to represent Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he would have quite likely centered the Swedes’ top line.
Anaheim hit a lull in Carlsson’s absence, and took a while to find its stride even after he returned, but in the end, the Ducks did enough to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the No. 3 seed in a weak Pacific Division.
As a playoff team, the Ducks brought a combination of an enthralling young core comprised of Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and Jackson Lacombe with battle-hardened veterans there to show them the ropes in Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas.
“It’s obviously huge,” Carlsson said of the veteran presence. “I’ve talked to [Kreider] more because he’s been on my line… He just brings so much to the table, and talks to me after every shift about things I can do better and things I do [well]. He’s helped me a lot.”
As for the youth movement, Gauthier topped the 40-goal mark in his second full season in the league. Sennecke hit 60 points as a rookie and earned a nomination for the Calder Trophy along the way.
The Ducks of the late 2000’s and early-mid 2010’s had a core of Ryan Getzlaf at center with Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan on the wing. Could this trio be even better?
“It’s super exciting,” Carlsson told Daily Faceoff in December. “Just imagine in two, three years what type of team we can be in the league if we keep on going like this. It’s just super exciting.”
Leo Carlsson doubles the Ducks lead and it’s 2-0! 🎥: Sportsnet
It hasn’t even taken one full year from that point for Anaheim to become a force. In their first Stanley Cup Playoff run of this new era, and with so much room still to grow, the Ducks have punched well above their weight class, knocking off the two-time reigning Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers with relative ease in the first round.
Now, they’re down 3-2 in a tight battle against an experienced, Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights squad.
Carlsson has risen to the occasion. He primarily matched up with McDavid against the Oilers, and when both were on the ice, the Ducks controlled 55.4% of the expected goals at 5-on-5. With 10 points in 11 games, he’s delivering both the production and territorial dominance against the best players in the world that one would expect from a more seasoned franchise center.
Along with Gauthier, Carlsson has become just the sixth forward selected in the top 10 since the 2010 NHL Draft to produce a 65-plus point regular season and 10-plus point postseason in the same year while still on an entry-level contract.
While Anaheim is facing elimination on home ice in Game 6 against the Golden Knights on Thursday, there’s no question that this season has already been a success far beyond even the loftiest of expectations. Led by a bona fide top-10 franchise center, the Ducks are heading toward perennial contender status, well ahead of schedule.
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