Hurricanes make decisive move and match offer sheet to Sebastian Aho
The Carolina Hurricanes had a week to match the Montreal Canadiens’ offer sheet to Sebastian Aho, but they didn’t even need 24 hours.
Restricted free agent offer sheets are rare in the NHL, and it’s even more rare when they aren’t matched. But the Montreal Canadiens tendered a large one (five years, $42.27 million; $8.4 million average annual value) to Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho on Monday.
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours into the week they had to do so, the Hurricanes announced they will match Aho’s offer sheet.
Via Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, with $20.9 million in signing bonuses over the first two years, Montreal clearly tried to construct the offer sheet in a way the Hurricanes would at least pause at matching. But general manager Don Waddell said it was an easy decision to match it, since Aho is a top-line center and a key piece for the team as he only approaches his 22nd birthday.
In fact, Waddell came off as defiant by the end of his statement.
"This was an easy decision,” said Waddell. “Sebastian is one of the best players in the league and the centerpiece of what we’re building here. We’ve spoken to him throughout this process and he’s made it clear that he wants to be in Raleigh and be a part of this organization.“It’s our job to manage our cap space as our players develop and hit free agency. There was no concern at any point that we would not be able to match this contract. Once again, the Carolina Hurricanes should not be underestimated. We have a plan and all the resources to win a Stanley Cup."
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon was also assertive and somewhat defiant, suggesting the Canadiens even making the offer sheet to Aho was a waste of time.
Dundon on offer sheets and MTL: “Everyone’s trying to make their team better. We’ve looked at all the ways to [do that], never came to the conclusion that the offer sheet was the best way. Your probability of succeeding is almost zero. It was proven that it was a waste of time.”
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 2, 2019
Losing Aho would have been far worse than matching the offer sheet will be for Carolina. But his agent pointed to the front-loaded nature of it, and even added how Aho would have wanted to play in Montreal.
"I think that Sebastian 100 percent wants to play in Montreal,” Johannson told Marc Antoine Godin of The Athletic. “He wouldn’t have signed an offer sheet if he didn’t want to play in Montreal."
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Aho continued on an upward trajectory last year, with 83 points (30 goals, 53 assists) in 82 regular season games before tallying 12 points in 15 playoff contests. Credit the Canadiens for trying to get him, but the decision to retain one of the top young forwards in the league was too easy for the Hurricanes and they wasted no time doing it.