[News] Hurricanes officially match Aho offer sheet (5 years x $8.454 million)

[SuperMatt18]

Agree with that.

This is where teams should be leveraging offer sheets - on the mid tier RFAs of cap crunched teams.

SJS with Lebanc
Flames with Bennett
Tampa with Sergachev
Washington with Vrana
Toronto with Kerfoot now
Rangers with Buchnevich
Vancouver with Boeser

All of these teams prioritized other players in UFA / RFA and either need to keep space to sign another RFA or have limited space to match to keep the player.

For example the Canucks have only $7.7M in cap space now...if you are a team with some cap space to burn and in need of a goal scoring winger (Looks at the Sabres) then a 5 x $7.8M offer sheet for Boeser wouldn't be the worst and would only cost you a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I personally think there should be more offer sheets. I don't understand why more GM's use this as if you are a team without an elite center it is absolutely worth four 1st round picks to get that elite center for all of his prime years. These same GM's have absolutely no issues giving big term and money for the last few years of a UFA players prime and all of his decline years which to me is kind of dumb as the NHL seems to be the worst professional sport when it comes to paying top dollar for past performance.

Simple...they don't work.

Unless you are wiling to way overpay what a guy is worth and lose draft picks for the privilege to do so, you aren't going to land him.

That's why this one was such a futile attempt. They clearly couldnt obtain Aho through trade because the cost would have been to exorbitant, so they tried to get him on the cheap thinking the canes couldn't pay 21 million in the space of a year. It was a really silly philosophy that has done nothing to help the Habs, established the (mostly reasonable) contract for the canes, and likely pissed off Waddell and a few others, all while tieing up that money and those draft picks for a week which could prevent them from doing something else with them.

In offer sheet world it's go huge or go home.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Simple...they don't work.

Unless you are wiling to way overpay what a guy is worth and lose draft picks for the privilege to do so, you aren't going to land him.

That's why this one was such a futile attempt. They clearly couldnt obtain Aho through trade because the cost would have been to exorbitant, so they tried to get him on the cheap thinking the canes couldn't pay 21 million in the space of a year. It was a really silly philosophy that has done nothing to help the Habs, established the (mostly reasonable) contract for the canes, and likely pissed off Waddell and a few others, all while tieing up that money and those draft picks for a week which could prevent them from doing something else with them.

In offer sheet world it's go huge or go home.

Montreal's attempt is IMO an example of how not to make an offer sheet. As I said earlier they went full Kijiji buyer trying to get him on the cheap when a more reasonable offer at or above $9 million a season and 2 x 1st round picks may have got the job done. I don't know why they didn't do that considering they haven't been hitting home runs in the draft. I wouldn't give up three or four 1st round picks for Aho but two is pretty reasonable IMO. Not sure why a team hasn't put in an offer for Marner as I think he's worth four 1st rounders as there simply aren't a lot of 22 year old players coming off 90+ point seasons and if you have the opportunity you should take it.

[cannon7]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

No one yet suggested that Montreal made a mistake here.

Perhaps having 8.454 million of your projected cap, a contract, a roster position, and 3 of your next top draft picks held in limbo for 7 days at the very opening of free agency has potential to be restrictive to what else Montreal can achieve.

The Canes are in the same boat. Ad the Habs only did this once it was clear the guys they wanted were going elsewhere (Duchene/Lee).

[transplant99]

Of his reaction to the offer sheet, Dundon, said, “We’re surprised. We love the player and we’re happy to have this done. And surprised someone would have thought this would work.


“We were never going to let him go. He didn’t want to go. This is just part of the business of getting the deal done. I said the day I bought the team and nothing has changed, he’s one of if not the most important part of our future and we’re lucky to have him.”

Dundon, a Dallas billionaire, called an offer sheet a “waste of time” and no one should question the Canes’ or his ability to make such a large payment, noting, “I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am. This sounds terrible but writing that check is no big deal.”

“It is what it is, right?” Dundon said. “Our job is to allocate the (salary cap) properly and we should be able to do it just fine. (Waddell) said we would have liked more term. That’s the main difference, where it would have ended up if there had not been an offer sheet.

“I’m relieved this is done and Sebastian doesn’t have to worry about this anymore. It’s nice to have it done. It’s probably not the way we’d like to have it done.”

Dundon on Tuesday disputed that notion, saying, “I think the other team got manipulated into believing something that might not have been true.”

“There’s no scenario where Sebastian Aho doesn’t want to be on the Hurricanes,” Dundon said. “It is in his right to use that leverage the (collective bargaining agreement) provides to get the most money from us and that’s all that happened. I have not heard Sebastian say that. If he said that it would be different but he didn’t. So the fact that an agent said it means that there’s no credibility to it.”

https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/...link=mainstage

[cannon7]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Simple...they don't work.

Unless you are wiling to way overpay what a guy is worth and lose draft picks for the privilege to do so, you aren't going to land him.

That's why this one was such a futile attempt. They clearly couldnt obtain Aho through trade because the cost would have been to exorbitant, so they tried to get him on the cheap thinking the canes couldn't pay 21 million in the space of a year. It was a really silly philosophy that has done nothing to help the Habs, established the (mostly reasonable) contract for the canes, and likely pissed off Waddell and a few others, all while tieing up that money and those draft picks for a week which could prevent them from doing something else with them.

In offer sheet world it's go huge or go home.

Seriously? If the Canes wanted to sign Aho for an eight year deal, the Habs just robbed them of three of those years and saddled them with $21M in bonuses in the process. This was totally a risk worth taking by the Habs.

If I'm an NHL GM, I'm making offer sheets to get my rivals top talent to UFA as soon and as expensively as possible.

Just hope no GM offer sheets Tkachuk to rob the Flames of UFA years. Definite risk if GMs are willing to play by the offer sheet rules.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by cannon7

Seriously? If the Canes wanted to sign Aho for an eight year deal, the Habs just robbed them of three of those years and saddled them with $21M in bonuses in the process. This was totally a risk worth taking by the Habs.

If I'm an NHL GM, I'm making offer sheets to get my rivals top talent to UFA as soon and as expensively as possible.

Just hope no GM offer sheets Tkachuk to rob the Flames of UFA years. Definite risk if GMs are willing to play by the offer sheet rules.

A GM's job is to make his team better.

What did Bergevin do here to make his team better?

Bergevin isnt even likely to be the GM in 5 years...so again....what was the point?

[cannon7]

Originally Posted by transplant99

A GM's job is to make his team better.

What did Bergevin do here to make his team better?

Bergevin isnt even likely to be the GM in 5 years...so again....what was the point?

1. He forced a contract onto a competitor. Both with a sum and a term they did not want. Don't listen to the BS coming out of Raleigh, they did not want these terms.

2. A top talent is now guaranteed to become a UFA in five years (unless he extends, which is unlikely). Habs took three UFA years for a top talent away from a competitor. Could have had four, but I suspect Aho wanted more term.

3. What did it cost? A week of having some picks/cap tied up after all the UFAs they wanted were signed? Peanuts.

This is very shrewd of Bergevin. You have to be very shortsighted not to see why. Toronto and Tampa are likely even more vulnerable here.

[Flash Walken]

There's a lot of hurricanes PR happening right now.

Why?

Compensating?

[devo22]

Dundon can sugarcoat it all he wants, a 5 year deal is very far from ideal.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Agree with that.

This is where teams should be leveraging offer sheets - on the mid tier RFAs of cap crunched teams.

SJS with Lebanc
Flames with Bennett
Tampa with Sergachev
Washington with Vrana
Toronto with Kerfoot now
Rangers with Buchnevich
Vancouver with Boeser

All of these teams prioritized other players in UFA / RFA and either need to keep space to sign another RFA or have limited space to match to keep the player.

For example the Canucks have only $7.7M in cap space now...if you are a team with some cap space to burn and in need of a goal scoring winger (Looks at the Sabres) then a 5 x $7.8M offer sheet for Boeser wouldn't be the worst and would only cost you a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

except the sabres are looking Reinhardt next year and Dahlin in 2 years.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by cannon7

1. He forced a contract onto a competitor. Both with a sum and a term they did not want. Don't listen to the BS coming out of Raleigh, they did not want these terms.

I shouldn't listen to the guys who just matched the offer? Who should i listen too? Additionally, they now have their franchise C at a reasonable AAV, even if the bonuses weren't what they wanted. Sure they have to pay 21 M over the next year...but then they only have to fork out 21 over the following 4 years for a guy who is likely to be among the top point getters in the entire league.

2. A top talent is now guaranteed to become a UFA in five years (unless he extends, which is unlikely). Habs took three UFA years for a top talent away from a competitor. Could have had four, but I suspect Aho wanted more term.

Which does what to help the Habs?

3. What did it cost? A week of having some picks/cap tied up after all the UFAs they wanted were signed? Peanuts.

Who knows? They have accomplished nothing with the actual proposal and have hand cuffed themselves from doing anything else for a week when the rest of the league is still able to consummate deals and/or signings. MTL has to put on hold both the AAV of Aho and their draft picks til next Monday.

This is very shrewd of Bergevin. You have to be very shortsighted not to see why. Toronto and Tampa are likely even more vulnerable here.

Yeah, real shrewd. He has done exactly nothing to help his team who he is paid to make better.

And you are correct with the TB and Toronto analogy...maybe thats where he should have looked instead of going after a team that had zero difficulty matching because they have zero cap issues?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

There's a lot of hurricanes PR happening right now.

Why?

Compensating?

PR?

This is them answering the questions being asked and responding with what they are doing in regards to their player being offer sheeted.

Had they not matched...THEN the PR team would have been in full go mode.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by devo22

Dundon can sugarcoat it all he wants, a 5 year deal is very far from ideal.

Yeah...thats what he said.

However, and dont be surprised to see it here as well, when Matthews signed for 5 years, a lot of the landscape changed.

It may be the new norm moving forward for the elite RFA's. Sell one year of UFA or pony up way more than you want to go longer.

5 years is one fewer than Gaudreau signed for.

[Jiggy]

Dundon has been known to be stingy since he has become an owner. I highly doubt he wanted to pay that much bonus money up front. If he was ok with it then Aho's agent wouldn't have gone the route he did.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by cannon7

1. He forced a contract onto a competitor. Both with a sum and a term they did not want. Don't listen to the BS coming out of Raleigh, they did not want these terms.

2. A top talent is now guaranteed to become a UFA in five years (unless he extends, which is unlikely). Habs took three UFA years for a top talent away from a competitor. Could have had four, but I suspect Aho wanted more term.

3. What did it cost? A week of having some picks/cap tied up after all the UFAs they wanted were signed? Peanuts.

This is very shrewd of Bergevin. You have to be very shortsighted not to see why. Toronto and Tampa are likely even more vulnerable here.

Bergevin will have to pay a premium for Kotkaniemi and hope that Poehling and Juulsen don't have a break thru year.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

Dundon has been known to be stingy since he has become an owner. I highly doubt he wanted to pay that much bonus money up front. If he was ok with it then Aho's agent wouldn't have gone the route he did.

Probably didnt want to pay it up front, but i think the stalemate, as it appears to be with about 8 other of these guys, was term.

Agents/players look to have realized there is/may be an advantage to getting to UFA earlier as revenues climb. Just a way to maximize their earning potential, and should they get a career ending injury during that time, they are still set up for life.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Bergevin will have to pay a premium for Kotkaniemi and hope that Poehling and Juulsen don't have a break thru year.

No GM worth anything wants to save money next year more than have success now.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by transplant99

A GM's job is to make his team better.

What did Bergevin do here to make his team better?

Again, the Canadiens were in direct competition with Carolina for one of the wildcard spots and just missed out on the playoffs.

By tying up 23.3M on Aho in the next calendar year (+ a day), the Hurricanes, a team historically not spending to the cap and more recently spending around 60M or so a year, do not have the monetary capital now to explore other short-term options to improve their team. The poison pill contract the Habs offered Aho has taken Carolina out of the running for these secondary available UFAs that they would otherwise had the opportunity to sign. With the teams presumably expected to be close in the standings again this year, Carolina's hit on a depth signing or two could be the difference between Montreal making the playoffs or not.

Yes, it will be advantageous to Carolina in years 4 and 5 of the deal when they'll be spending 6M on their number 1 center, but year 6 could be extremely detrimental if they lose him for nothing.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by transplant99

PR?

This is them answering the questions being asked and responding with what they are doing in regards to their player being offer sheeted.

Had they not matched...THEN the PR team would have been in full go mode.

I dunno, there is a LOT of media availability right now to just keep saying they are going to match, and how much they love the player and how he wants to be in Carolina and how they love the contract and how they are surprised the Habs thought it would work and how the Habs got played yadda yadda yadda.

Me thinks they protest too much.

Bergevin made them look vulnerable. NHL owners don't buy big public facing sports teams to look vulnerable, and they definitely don't want to look too poor to pay top tier player prices.

I'm not saying they won't match it, but I will believe it when the paper work is submitted to the league.