Confirmed with Link: Carolina Officially Matches Habs' Offer Sheet for Aho

[sandviper]

Carolina had the Cap space to match easily
Aho is their very top franchise player.....not one of many like Marner is in Toronto or Laine in Winnipeg or Point in Tampa.

You want to go after Carolina's only Top franchise player they had like in 10 years with a ridiculous offer that doesn't even put any kind of pressure on their Cap?

You want to make an offer sheet, you go after team that don't even have the Cap to match it and if you go after their very best player, you better overpay to make sure you get him and even then, you probably won't get him since the team doesn't have anybody else.

If you go after a team with multiple top players with an offer sheet that put pressure on their Cap, then you have a chance to get him.

There's a reason offer sheet was talked about before the UFA open up......and the name of Aho never came up like Point or Marner, cause it wasn't a good target AT ALL.

The strategy with Carolina was Montreal was hedging their bets that Carolina wouldn't match because of the bonus structure. I'm not sure why, despite the jokes, Bergevin would think Dundon wouldn't pony up the cash, but he did. So, cap was never the issue as we know since they had the room. I guess he thought they'd not match due to their internal cap, but they did as they should have.

I'm sure he's NOT thinking the long game, but if he were, I'd keep an eye on Carolina and try again when Svechnikov (assuming he booms like I think he will) in two years. Of course, other teams may be prime pickings also. The team may really be in the red at that point and they will have other RFAs to deal with that year and next.

As for Point and Marner, by all accounts, Point has no interest in Montreal. Marner and Laine I don't know.

On a side note, while it'd be fun to screw around with a team's salary structure by going big, that would really rock the boat for the whole league, including Montreal. While the AAV wasn't enough to scare Carolina (they were hoping the length of the term and bonuses would), I'm glad MB didn't do anything like 7 x $12 or something stupid.

Ultimately, I'd like to know what Bergevin was told about Carolina. He must have been fed some BS like Dundon has 99% of his assets locked into something and video recordings of him and Waddell saying bonuses are for chumps. I mean, the bonus structure is painful, but end of the day, it isn't a big deal for Dundon if he was truly interested in his team.

 

[Milhouse40]

Yep, Bergevin should be fired for thinking an owner who just declared bankrupcy over his investment in the AAF can't come up with 11M in 2 weeks. That's a little much don't you think?

Edit: I mean, he could be fired for other reason, but not this one.

The AFF declared bankruptcy, not Dundon himself.

 

[Kriss E]

Didn't know a GM can only have one plan at a time. I think there's a whole lot of complaining for nothing here.

More like arguing for the sake of arguing.

What he did was predictably pointless, but you can't even admit that, instead you go on a Bergevin hater spin. Great...let's move on.

 

[hvac412]

There is nothing ''overexaggerated''. It was a pointless move that lead to nothing. That's a fact.
You're back to square 1. Maybe you don't care about going around in circle, I find the strategy extremely futile.
Again, if you're going to try...then go all in. Give Aho 12-13M if you really want him. No, I wouldn't like that deal, but then...if you think flexing your muscles at Carolina is just 11M+9M in signing bonuses in first two years...you're not going anywhere. Again, hence, the matching and the laughing at Habs offer from them.

Nobody means ''waste of time'' as in we lost 6 days and missed out on oh-so-many opportunities. They mean ''waste of time'' as in it was completely useless. I thought that was obvious...

The only waste of time was listening to dundon whine about being offer sheeted ,WHAT THE HELL IS THE RULE THERE FOR !!totally classless egomaniac behavior (oh yes I'm so rich).this is what happens when you have a franchise that doesn't belong where it is because it barely survives and then an ignorant billionaire has to bail them out.

 

[Hfbsux]

The AFF declared bankruptcy, not Dundon himself.

Well no, but he was the major investor.

 

[Hfbsux]

More like arguing for the sake of arguing.

What he did was predictably pointless, but you can't even admit that, instead you go on a Bergevin hater spin. Great...let's move on.

Pretty hard to hate Bergevin for trying this. I don't get it. Moving on.

 

[SpeedyPotato]

Getting Vanek might have lead them to better results which means they wouldn't have drafted at the same spots, but, knowing how terrible their management have been, chances are they would have continued sucking.

Oh yeah man I totally agree they might have been better, just saying you can't really bully a team like that, especially when it comes to their best players. All I really meant is that if buffalo matched for Vanek even if it meant turning away 4 firsts, the canes weren't letting Ago go, even for 4 firsts, that my opinion anyways.

 

[Hostile Offer]

Right, but if they had to pay him that much, you have to think that other teams offered similar contracts.

I'm just saying that Price can be traded if we had to move him.

I'm not quite that sure about it but it's a moot point anyway, don't think MB is even considering to trade his face of the franchise.

 

[Kriss E]

Pretty hard to hate Bergevin for trying this. I don't get it. Moving on.

The hate for Bergevin is much deeply rooted, nobody hates Bergevin for this, they have issues with him for a bunch of other crap.
What people said here is this move was predictably useless, it just adds to the rest of the pointless crap he's done that helps in no way the team, you're the one who came in here saying ''people wanna hate''.

 

[Kriss E]

The only waste of time was listening to dundon whine about being offer sheeted ,WHAT THE HELL IS THE RULE THERE FOR !!totally classless egomaniac behavior (oh yes I'm so rich).this is what happens when you have a franchise that doesn't belong where it is because it barely survives and then an ignorant billionaire has to bail them out.

Bah..not uncommon. Burke and Lowe went at each other too.

 

[Whitesnake]

Pretty hard to hate Bergevin for trying this. I don't get it. Moving on.

Not sure there is hate. What was pretty hard to understand is to love for him for doing it. And I think that at this point, it's way more a dispute over the fans than it is for Bergie himself. He tried something that was called a failure from the get go by everybody. He did something that was innovative, yet transformed it into a joke. Put a lion's costume on a cat. So in the end, should be viewed as meh, instead of the OH MY GOD WHAT A DAY I saw when it happened. And the BUT HE TRIED SOMETHING TO IMPROVE THE TEAM as if it had any chance to succeed.

That's like me sending a e-mail to Beyonce and thinking that at least I proved how big my balls are for doing so and have a real chance at going out with her now that I did....You would tell me how delusional I am....

 

[Milhouse40]

Well no, he was the major investor.

Dundon was a late invoestor and wasn't even part of the ownership of the league. He came late to save the league.....

The Alliance operated as a single entity, with all teams owned and operated by the league, under the name Legendary Field Exhibitions LLC.[47] Some of the investors in the AAF included Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, The Chernin Group (which owns Barstool Sports), Jared Allen, Slow Ventures, Adrian Fenty, Charles King's M Ventures, and Keith Rabois.[55][46] Long-term plans were for the AAF to sell franchises to individual owners.[57]

 

[mitchmagic]

Can't believe all of you are falling into Bergevin's PR trap.

 

[Want My Dach x 77]

Can’t believe ppl are still talking about this , old news move along lol

 

[Runner77]

And we all know....if Duchene signed in Montreal, that offer sheet would never existed.

Well, MB may not have had enough cap room to OS a premium player had he signed Duchene but point taken.

I buy into the notion that MB resorting to the OS was borne out of his frustration or lack of success re prime UFAs who went elsewhere as in most other years.

I’m not putting too much weight on how much Aho may have wanted to play for the Habs as his agent was in a major bind after almost one year of failed negotiations with Dundon. However, you could tell from MB’s announcement of the OS that he was trying to say that it wasn’t for lack of trying that he couldn’t land anyone of value and it allowed to use Aho’s signature to say “you see, there are players who want to sign with us.”

MB made his point which tells me he’s done with OS. On to more assured means of acquiring players.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Can't believe all of you are falling into Bergevin's PR trap.

Go on Twitter man. It's even worst.

People have developped the Stockolm syndrom with their GM FFS.

 

[Hfbsux]

The hate for Bergevin is much deeply rooted, nobody hates Bergevin for this, they have issues with him for a bunch of other crap.
What people said here is this move was predictably useless, it just adds to the rest of the pointless crap he's done that helps in no way the team, you're the one who came in here saying ''people wanna hate''.

Nobody hates Bergevin for this but some wants him fired for even trying to sign Aho. I don't know about that. I thought we were moving on. I did. Your turn.

 

[Hfbsux]

Dundon was a late invoestor and wasn't even part of the ownership of the league. He came late to save the league.....

So what? He still invested 250M in it.

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

Can't believe all of you are falling into Bergevin's PR trap.

We are?

 

[Hfbsux]

Not sure there is hate. What was pretty hard to understand is to love for him for doing it. And I think that at this point, it's way more a dispute over the fans than it is for Bergie himself. He tried something that was called a failure from the get go by everybody. He did something that was innovative, yet transformed it into a joke. Put a lion's costume on a cat. So in the end, should be viewed as meh, instead of the OH MY GOD WHAT A DAY I saw when it happened. And the BUT HE TRIED SOMETHING TO IMPROVE THE TEAM as if it had any chance to succeed.

That's like me sending a e-mail to Beyonce and thinking that at least I proved how big my balls are for doing so and have a real chance at going out with her now that I did....You would tell me how delusional I am....

The love for him doing it? Not sure if that's love, as I haven't seen many fans saying it was the greatest move and we were gonna land Aho for sure. Everybody had their doubt. The possibility of the owner not giving him the bonus was the subject that was most talked about.

 

[OnTheRun]

So what? He still invested 250M in it.

Not exactly.
He opened a credits line of 250M for the AAF. (Only 70M was used.)

 

[Hfbsux]

Not exactly.
He opened a credits line of 250M for the AAF. (Only 70M was used.)

"Former Alliance of American Football owner Tom Dundon alleges that the league initially told him it only needed $55 million to get through one season when he invested but in reality needed $120 million–more than twice what he was told–in a revealing legal filing in bankruptcy court."

 

[Runner77]

Dundon is really milking his 6 days of fame, I see.

 

[OnTheRun]

"Former Alliance of American Football owner Tom Dundon alleges that the league initially told him it only needed $55 million to get through one season when he invested but in reality needed $120 million–more than twice what he was told–in a revealing legal filing in bankruptcy court."

That 55M figure is included in the 70M previously mentioned. The rest is just part of the case Dundon is making to get his 70M back (from the AAF) in bankruptcy court.

 

[Hfbsux]

That 55M figure is included in the 70M previously mentioned. The rest is just part of the case Dundon is making to get his 70M back (from the AAF) in bankruptcy court.

He wants 70M back but there's this:

"The Carolina Hurricanes billionaire owner alleges, in documents obtained by The Athletic, that he was told that $55 million would get the now-defunct league through one season and the remainder of his $250 million investment would be used in subsequent seasons."

Seems like he indeed invested 250M.

Edit: To be clearer, he claims that only 70M was used. But with the fact that the business went bankrupt and that it needed 55M + 120M x times, it looks to me that his 250M is all gone. We will have to see the judge verdict.