The Carolina Hurricanes, as expected, will be matching the Montreal Canadiens’ bold offer sheet of Sebastian Aho.
The Montreal Canadiens took everyone by surprise when they signed Carolina Hurricanes star forward Sebastian Aho to a five-year offer sheet. They were hoping to get him immediately. However, it appears the Canadiens will have to wait no fewer than five years to add Aho to their roster, as the Hurricanes will, as expected, match the offer sheet.
Majority owner Thomas Dundon is expected to make a formal announcement on Tuesday, July 2, during the afternoon. It’s a bit surprising the Hurricanes aren’t making the Canadiens wait in limbo, but at the same time, you can’t blame Dundon for wanting to get in front of this.
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For most of their existence, the Hurricanes have been viewed as a cheap team. They rarely spend to the salary cap ceiling and have to rely on signing guys to below market-level extensions. It’s a darn good strategy, but Dundon’s proven he wants to change the way the Canes do business.
Getting in front of this is, ultimately, the right decision. It might be fun to put the Canadiens offseason plans on hold, but the professional decision is to come out and match the offer sheet right away.
Dundon will have to pay for this – quite literally. The terms of the offer sheet will make the Hurricanes have to give Aho over $21 million in the next 12 months. However, Dundon’s a smart man who realizes Aho is worth far more than that to the Hurricanes.
You have to tip your cap to the Canadiens. Aho is a guy who they coveted. The Canadiens realized the quickest way to get him would be to sign an offer sheet. They made a bold decision, a rarity in today’s NHL.
Aho signed the Habs offer sheet, which tells you he’s interested in playing there. Maybe that happens after the next five seasons. Perhaps the ultimate purpose of the offer sheet was to ensure Montreal would get that chance in five years.
But for now, the Hurricanes will be keeping Aho. This is a huge win for Carolina. It shows Dundon is willing to commit whatever it takes to keep his team together. He has built an impressive amount of goodwill among the Hurricanes organization by turning them into winners. Losing Aho would have immediately made it disappear.
The Canadiens took a risk in potentially opening up some floodgates by signing him to an offer sheet. There’s likely going to be some fallout around the league, and some of it might even be directed at the Canadiens. The Hurricanes are calling their bluff.