MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 12: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens protects his net during the NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre on November 12, 2016 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
In a rare free agency move, the Montreal Canadiens have signed Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet.
Aho, 21, registered 30 goals and 53 assists this season as the Carolina Hurricanes knocked out the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals in the 1st round of the NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs. The Hurricanes then went on to defeat the New York Islanders in the second round before being subdued by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. Overall, Aho has tallied 197 points (83 goals, 114 assists) in 242 career games in the NHL.
Aho has signed the offer sheet with the Canadiens, leaving his current team, the Hurricanes, with one week to either match the Canadiens offer or receive a first, second, and third-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The offer sheet is worth five-years, $42 million with $11.3 million in signing bonuses during the first year of the contract, and then $9.87 million in signing bonuses in the second year of the contract. The offer sheet also has trade protections in the latter half of the deal.
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”Sebastian Aho accepted our offer,” Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said in a statement. “He wants to come to Montreal. He sees our youngsters coming up in the organization and he wants to be a part of that. We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period.”
Don Waddell, the current general manager of the Hurricanes, says that the team is reviewing the offer sheet signed by Aho, but are concerned about the financial aspects of the contract, primarily the annual average salary of $8.454 million.
“We look at Sebastian as our best player. We certainly wanted to keep him long term,” Waddell told the media jokingly, “I know my summer just got better because I’m not going to be negotiating a contract all summer. We make a decision and move on.”
The last NHL team to try and sign a free agent to an offer sheet were the Calgary Flames back in 2013 when they tried signing Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly.
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