Confirmed Signing with Link: [MTL] Sebastian Aho signs an offer sheet with the Canadiens (5 years, $8.454M AAV) - Pt. 3

[MSSLYNX]

Sure, that's why he didn't say he was going to do it during his presser.

He should though, he did say he'd match any offer sheet right?

In the end, Aho doesn't want to be there, they sign a contract forced upon them, and can't trade him for a year. The owner is out 20M+ in the first week as well.

The hurricanes are losers in the end no matter what.

Only way Hurricanes lose is if they lose Aho. Compensation is not enough.

 

[Chrispy]

Just out of curiosity, say the Hurricanes match (as expected). Can Aho actually decline the Hurricanes match? I'm assuming no but thought I would ask in any case. And no, I fully believe Aho actually wants to play in Carolina so this is, again, just a curiosity question.

When an RFA signs an offer sheet he has to be confident about 3 things:

1) This is the money I want to play for.
2) I will be happy playing for the team I am signing the offer sheet with.
3) I will be happy playing for the team that owns the right of refusal.

Because he will be playing for this contract for one of those 2 teams.

If Aho wanted out of Carolina, an offer sheet is a terrible way to do it. He'd be better off holding out an demanding a trade. This way, he lets Carolina decide if they want to keep him.

 

[Price is Wright]

Interesting choice of words here with stuck. What makes you think Aho is not perfectly happy playing with the Hurricanes? Besides Renaud Lavoie saying so.

I only used it because someone said he should demand a trade out.

I think behind the scenes Aho is fine with Carolina but might not have liked Waddell admitting he expected a long fight and that the offer sheet was lower than he expected. He showed his hand there that he thought Aho was worth more than he wanted to give him and was ready to fight him all year long about it.

I think Carolina matches but Don better have a long talk with Aho that his hubris is about having confidence in Aho because he right now just looks like he's throwing around his toy.

 

[Rico Suave]

You're saying that as if Dundon wasn't already prepared to give Aho this much money. There's no way the Canes expected to get out of this negotiation for less than $8.5M a year. The only thing that changed is the timing at which the money is due.

Once the up-front bonuses are paid, Dundon can look forward to 4 heavily discounted years of Aho's services. If anything, this will all make things easier in the long run as other young players (Svechnikov) move up into the UFA range and Aho will not be crimping the budget.

So really, the only issue here is a billionaire needing to come up with a few mil in a week. He's probably annoyed by it but that's the extent of the trouble.

maybe he was maybe he wasnt who knows,none of us really knows whats happening behind closed doors,Bergevin sure doesnt risk hes reputation if he was that sure Canes would match the offer.Lebrun reported both GMs spoke before the OS ( Bergevin also confirmed ) maybe Waddell told MB to offersheet Aho so hes owner doesnt have a choice to match and Bergevin can go back to the media and say he tried ( win win for both GMs ) dont get me wrong i know we're not getting Aho for that cheap but like i said if the owner doesnt wanna pay 21mill he forces a side deal with the habs for not matching,right now we're all waiting to see whats gonna happen,nobody in these forums can say 100% this will happen

 

[tarheelhockey]

Well then I'm sure he will do that right away and we'll see them match within a few days, right? We're all sure about that, no doubt about it. Nooo doubt.

6 days, to be exact. Bergevin can sit on his hands and watch the rest of the league sort out the remaining talent on the market, and then give your fanbase a "I tried, there was nothing else I could do" like of bull**** to excuse a wasted summer.

And no, there really is no doubt that the match is happening. The organization is pretty much openly mocking the whole idea that it wouldn't.

 

[Icarium]

Hurricanes fans are about to see their franchise player become a UFA at the age of 26.

Every player with a contract of less than the maximum length is a certain UFA apparently. The things can read on this forum...

Lebrun reported both GMs spoke before the OS ( Bergevin also confirmed ) maybe Waddell told MB to offersheet

Oh, good, we are in conspiracy theory territory now. What about this - maybe Bettman planned all this to add some fan excitement! Maybe it's a CIA operation! Maybe... you get the idea.

 

[JoemAvs]

This is such an unbelievably easy match. Wow. I don't even think Dundon had to think for 1s about it. I am not even sure he is even mad about it. Maybe he is even happy. Its just Bergevin playing to his fanbase and his owner. Nothing more. Aho gets his preferred 5 year deal out of it. That sucks for the Canes but given that they ultimately did not want to really overpay for longer term (10M+) a somewhat expected outcome. I desperately hope that the Avs can avoid that with Rantanen but at the end of the day it very well might happen with him as well. Seems like getting these young RFAs on longer term deals won't happen all that often anymore.

I mean it really sucked hard to be on the receiving end of the ROR offersheet and Feaster (that idiot would even have lost ROR to Waivers and handed a top10 pick in 2013 to the Avs in the process which makes it so much worse) cost the Avs a future Selke/Conn Smythe winner. It might have happened anyways without him screwing with us but it certainly made it a foregone conclusion given the really high QO which gave ROR a free path to UFA while still cashing in.

The Avs ultimately matched anyways and this is nowhere close to the same. It even buys an UFA year. What a joke of an offersheet. Aho was a good candidate for an offersheet but not like this.
Oh well. Atleast it sets a lower comparable for Rantanen atleast when it comes to his AAV...

 

[habs03]

Montreal doesn't have $11M in cap space if Aho is taking up $8.5M of that. Remember, you now have him under contract.

Of course Dundon is willing to spend the money. If there was no offer sheet, he would STILL have spent the money. It's not like Aho was going to play for free. The only thing that has changed is the timing of the paycheck, to Dundon's annoyance.

Not even sure what you're talking about with regard to the "Canes organization" being stuck to find money, as if the ownership group has nothing to do with financing their own business.

You're allowed to go 10% over the cap during the summer, so they have a ton of cap space even with Aho.

 

[expy]

Only way Hurricanes lose is if they lose Aho. Compensation is not enough.

The ownership is in worse condition (yes even though he's filthy rich) after the offer-sheet than if the offer-sheet had never gone through. The GM is forced to match a contract they would never have given (5 years, straight to UFA).

The Habs? They lose nothing. They gain nothing. Status Quo.

 

[RageQuit77]

If Carolina matches he's stuck for a year. No trading.

Yep. 20 mils in a pocket.

Probably some 70-80 points accumulated. Ofc if not put to a dog house.

After those millions it will be relatively easy to pay his contract out if he ever desire it. People look it all wrong, paid SBs doesn't hinder anyway his marketability as he was actually paid for job he didn't necessarily performed yet. Canes will be happy to cover their depts with decent 4-5 mils/year compensation in scenario where Aho just decides: "Ok. Enough canes".

He don't have to be even "good", anymore.

Aho did a service for every good hockey players. He can only land on his feet after this.

 

[Identity404]

It’s certainly going to be interesting.

Last night Aho’s agent gave an interview to The Athletic hours after they signed the offer sheet that this isn’t an easy match for Carolina and Aho 100% wants to play in Montreal. If this was an attempt to simply get a better contract, would he say that?

This is the quote:
"I *think* Sebastian 100 percent wants to play in Montreal" "He wouldn't have signed an offer sheet if he didn't want to play in Montreal".

His agent doesn't know what he really wants, just is making assumptions like we are that he is willing to play for them since he signed the offer sheet.

Bergy is going on national television in Canada saying that Aho really wants to play in Montreal and how excited he is to leave.

He said nothing about how excited Aho is to leave Carolina during that presser. His agent doesn't even know for sure if Aho is excited to play for the Habs. You think Bergevin does?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Sure, that's why he didn't say he was going to do it during his presser.

He should though, he did say he'd match any offer sheet right?

In the end, Aho doesn't want to be there, they sign a contract forced upon them, and can't trade him for a year. The owner is out 20M+ in the first week as well.

The hurricanes are losers in the end no matter what.

Aho doesn't want to be here, so he signed a contract that he knew the team would match and which guarantees he can't be traded?

Yeah that sounds about right, nice insights.

 

[justafan22]

Grain of salt since it's burke, but:

 

[bleedgreen]

I only used it because someone said he should demand a trade out.

I think behind the scenes Aho is fine with Carolina but might not have liked Waddell admitting he expected a long fight and that the offer sheet was lower than he expected. He showed his hand there that he thought Aho was worth more than he wanted to give him and was ready to fight him all year long about it.

I think Carolina matches but Don better have a long talk with Aho that his hubris is about having confidence in Aho because he right now just looks like he's throwing around his toy.

Everyone was expecting a long fight. All the talking heads have been predicting multiple prolonged hold outs for this group of rfa’s, and have been for awhile.

The canes didn’t do anything wrong low balling him. Everyone would do the same. Rfa with no arbitration is the only time you can really control the situation at all, so it’s pretty obvious you would throw more weight around then. It would be dumb not to.

Aho would not take any offense to this, I’m sure his agent prepared him. It’s not like agents of RFA’s without arbitration rights don’t know what’s going on.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Grain of salt since it's burke, but:

After the poll made by their twitter I would be shocked if they didn't match.

 

[Starat327]

Aho doesn't want to be here, so he signed a contract that he knew the team would match and which guarantees he can't be traded?

Yeah that sounds about right, nice insights.

This is the start of the "we tried" narrative.

 

[expy]

Aho doesn't want to be here, so he signed a contract that he knew the team would match and which guarantees he can't be traded?

Yeah that sounds about right, nice insights.

Still waiting on the match.

Aho is the big winner out of all of this, the only potential losers are Carolina.

After the poll made by their twitter I would be shocked if they didn't match.

The social media team doesn't know what the executive team is going to decide.

 

[Nostradumbass]

No. Buffalo matched immediatly. Penner was let go.

Disagree. Buffalo said they would match but didn't officially match until the week was up. Penner was let go after the week elapsed.

 

[InglewoodJack]

Man, Aho's gonna be taking his first shift as a hab and people still going to be like "what a bad offer, dundon is laughing and will definitely match ASAP"

 

[Rico Suave]

This is the quote:
"I *think* Sebastian 100 percent wants to play in Montreal" "He wouldn't have signed an offer sheet if he didn't want to play in Montreal".

His agent doesn't know what he really wants, just is making assumptions like we are that he is willing to play for them since he signed the offer sheet.



He said nothing about how excited Aho is to leave Carolina during that presser. His agent doesn't even know for sure if Aho is excited to play for the Habs. You think Bergevin does?

what kind of agent doesnt know what hes client wants hey maybe he was just feeding bs to the media but every agent knows exactly what their client wants

 

[waffledave]

6 days, to be exact. Bergevin can sit on his hands and watch the rest of the league sort out the remaining talent on the market, and then give your fanbase a "I tried, there was nothing else I could do" like of bull**** to excuse a wasted summer.

And no, there really is no doubt that the match is happening. The organization is pretty much openly mocking the whole idea that it wouldn't.

The only thing Bergevin can't do is trade his 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks, for the next 6 days. He has multiple 2nds and 3rds too so he can still trade those if he wants, and he has never traded a 1st, ever.

They can go over the cap by 10% which is the Aho contract, plus they have mountains of cap space regardless. This doesn't affect Montreal's ability to do anything.

And I'm sure there is no doubt Carolina will match. They've bragged about it, made jokes about it. They've done everything except actually match.

 

[Starat327]

Still waiting on the match.

Aho is the big winner out of all of this, the only potential losers are Carolina.

A below market value 1C for his offensive prime isnt a loss. It isnt the ideal outcome, but its far from a loss.

 

[Chrispy]

This is the quote:
"I *think* Sebastian 100 percent wants to play in Montreal" "He wouldn't have signed an offer sheet if he didn't want to play in Montreal".

His agent doesn't know what he really wants, just is making assumptions like we are that he is willing to play for them since he signed the offer sheet.



He said nothing about how excited Aho is to leave Carolina during that presser. His agent doesn't even know for sure if Aho is excited to play for the Habs. You think Bergevin does?

Of course, we have a completely different report from LeBrun last week:



And if only we had some sort of direct quote from Aho. Something not tied to the fact Carolina was winning, say from even before this season's run:


Canes owner Tom Dundon has said he’d like Aho signed to a long-term contract and Aho said the same Monday.
“Yeah, for sure, definitely,” Aho said. “I like it here. I love living here.”

I hope he would be happy playing in Montreal. You certainly don't want to play chicken with an offer sheet from a place you wouldn't want to play.
But that doesn't mean he hasn't been happy in Carolina or would be unhappy playing in Carolina for this contract.

 

[ijuka]

I still think that:
1. Aho knows it's 100% that Canes will match this contract so it being with Canadiens is of no concern
2. Aho wanted 5 years and likes the contract structure.

 

[stepdad gaary]

Sure, that's why he didn't say he was going to do it during his presser.

He should though, he did say he'd match any offer sheet right?

In the end, Aho doesn't want to be there, they sign a contract forced upon them, and can't trade him for a year. The owner is out 20M+ in the first week as well.

The hurricanes are losers in the end no matter what.

and im sure in your mind, once again the habs walk away with the unanimous decision victory