There's something no one is talking about. From the start this has been about a trade for Aho. Bergevin may have threatened to use offer sheet if Carolina overvalued Aho (perhaps thinking they could get him cheap for 7 years) Bergevin followed through with the offer sheet to regain advantage in the negotiation. 5 years (that Carolina didnt want), very front loaded...ouch, and for a bit more $. I honestly don't think Bergevin ever thought Carolina wouldnt match the offer if it came down to it. Carolina does hate it though and it does force their hand a bit if they really do prefer trading him vs paying him. It makes sense if that was the main reason they were talking trade with Montreal in the first place.
What are your thoughts?
- Jelugo1977

This was not about a trade for Aho. He stated he did not want to play anywhere else, not to mention, Dundon had already stated he was the only untouchable on our team. Why would you trade your best player that's only 21 & will keep getting even better & you have control of his rights. The only reason Aho signed the sheet is his agent assured him the Canes would match & hence he would get the contract he wanted @8.5m x 5 years. He wasn't as concerned about the $ & neither were the Canes. It was always about the term & signing the OS for a 5 year deal was a way to stop negotiations & get his 5 year deal.

Canes said they will match. Tom Dundon said it was a waste of time. But yeah, the expert here with all kinds of twitter sources says it leaves the door open to sweeten the deal.

Canes said they will match. Tom Dundon said it was a waste of time. But yeah, the expert here with all kinds of twitter sources says it leaves the door open to sweeten the deal.
- Pacman79

Tom Dundon is a clueless billionnaire. This was the complete o
pposite of a waste of time. Whereas he has all these ideas about what contract he wants his GM to negotiate with Aho, the truth is the players always get what they want, especially when they're the best player on the team. There's plenty of examples of that around the league.

Dundon said today that Bergevin "was manipulated" into believing that writing a 20 milion dollar cheque would be a problem for him. Dundon was manipulated...

“But it’s not a concern. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am that — it sounds terrible — but writing that cheque is no big deal. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to do contracts that are best for the organization and the players getting contracts that are best for them.”

If that quote is not all ego, I don't know what else to call it.

Aho signed a very fair deal to go somewhere else, that deal should have been offered by the canes in the first place. Obviously the canes didn't offer it, and had no intention to offer it in the foreseeable future. So the agent calls Bergevin who he's negotiated with before successfully, and they come up with this plan to manipulate Dundon.. Cause it was never about a reason other than..."Dundon CAN'T pay it"... so they played to his ego...

And what does Bergevin get out of it? He's on good terms with the agent of many of his players. He gets to show that he did try to spend to the cap. His boss loves him cause he hasn't spent to the cap (which i personnaly don't mind, cause that money wouldn't be well spent at the moment anyway). Even though he can't get Aho today, he might be able to get him in 5 years when he's UFA, because it's that hard to convince free agents to play in montreal, and this is a creative way to maybe build that bridge with at least one potential free agent.

Carolina holding till the seven days does nothing for MB the contract for Aho is so good of course there gonna match and habs can spend 10% over the cap only thing that stops them is going for another offer sheet but if a player is looking for one dont u think they would wait also ? i personally dont see him going this root again but rather through trade or someone like Gardiner.

Tom Dundon can say all he wants hes not a happy camper about paying all that money up front . He had no choice to match his only star player or pretty much ruin his Franchise . and to go out and say he doesn't believe Aho wanted to play for the habs lol why would he sign the offer sheet ? this was a move to save his Franchise and also ego to flex some muscle back. Enjoy having no profit for the upcoming season lol this will be a start to the end of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Canes sayin they “intend” leaves the door open

For Montreal to sweeten the deal.
- HockeyBuzz

didnt know hockey buzz was a hangout of NHL GMs who know everything about offer sheets.

does Chiraelli hangout in here and talk about his glory days with the Bruins..
- wingz4life

Chia-pet's collective work is our main source of inspiration....

That makes sense theoretically but I don’t think it’s practical or realistic. It’s too complicated and I don’t think most 21-24yr olds have the stomach for it. Agent might, but not the player or their families for that matter. Take Nylander, he comes from a hockey family and had his dad nhl experience to fall on and yet he talked about how stressful the uncertainty of waiting and negotiating was for him.
- Turnitaround

But did it ever pay off

MB may have calculated that he can help tie up leaf cap space by making it easier for Marner to show he should get 10.5 per since Aho is getting 8.5+mill per year...
- kaptaan

Prefer Aho to Marner. Better goal scorer and has done it basically alone

Not everyone is as thin skinned as you might believe. Enjoy
- Nighthawk

Wouldn’t have put it past them. I got a 24 hour ban for asking Eklund to credit sources and then his buddies got upset that I called him out.

Carolina holding till the seven days does nothing for MB the contract for Aho is so good of course there gonna match and habs can spend 10% over the cap only thing that stops them is going for another offer sheet but if a player is looking for one dont u think they would wait also ? i personally dont see him going this root again but rather through trade or someone like Gardiner.
- Faulk12

cant believe they're actually doing it. they're like a bunch of pissy scorned 13 year old girls

It's just Ek throwing darts as usual
Nothing to see here

lol for (frank) sakes

Prefer Aho to Marner. Better goal scorer and has done it basically alone
- Hardbalz

As a Leafs fan, I'd easily rather Aho at 8.5 than Marner at 10.5+.

Tom Dundon is a clueless billionnaire. This was the complete o
pposite of a waste of time. Whereas he has all these ideas about what contract he wants his GM to negotiate with Aho, the truth is the players always get what they want, especially when they're the best player on the team. There's plenty of examples of that around the league.

Dundon said today that Bergevin "was manipulated" into believing that writing a 20 milion dollar cheque would be a problem for him. Dundon was manipulated...

“But it’s not a concern. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am that — it sounds terrible — but writing that cheque is no big deal. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to do contracts that are best for the organization and the players getting contracts that are best for them.”

If that quote is not all ego, I don't know what else to call it.

Aho signed a very fair deal to go somewhere else, that deal should have been offered by the canes in the first place. Obviously the canes didn't offer it, and had no intention to offer it in the foreseeable future. So the agent calls Bergevin who he's negotiated with before successfully, and they come up with this plan to manipulate Dundon.. Cause it was never about a reason other than..."Dundon CAN'T pay it"... so they played to his ego...

And what does Bergevin get out of it? He's on good terms with the agent of many of his players. He gets to show that he did try to spend to the cap. His boss loves him cause he hasn't spent to the cap (which i personnaly don't mind, cause that money wouldn't be well spent at the moment anyway). Even though he can't get Aho today, he might be able to get him in 5 years when he's UFA, because it's that hard to convince free agents to play in montreal, and this is a creative way to maybe build that bridge with at least one potential free agent.
- peter2679

careful not to throw your back out doing those mental gymnastics

Money wasn't the main issue. Carolina wanted a longer term. Aho wanted a shorter term to get to UFA status.
- Barbecued Hockey

Apparently this is difficult to understand.

Canes were willing to try and drag it out in an attempt to get him to a longer term.

Aho's agent used Bergevin to get a short term deal instead, apparently convincing him that Tom Dundon somehow went bankrupt.

I find it funny how Habs fans went from "He's broke! He'll never be able to pay the bonus money!" to "He's a jerk for bragging about how much money he has. This was always just leverage to force a trade!"