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Drama! RFA Sebastian Aho signs offer sheet with Montreal Canadiens which includes $21 million in the first 12 months

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For the first time since 2013, an NHL team has made an offer sheet and a restricted free agent has signed it. The Montreal Canadiens want Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes, and they’re willing to part with a lot of draft picks to make it happen.

Aho has already signed the offer sheet, meaning Carolina has a week to choose to match it or not. If Carolina does not match the deal, Montreal will give Carolina three draft picks: a first, a second, and a third.

The deal in the sheet is 5 years x $8.454 million, well short of Evolving Hockey’s projection for Aho at 8 years x $9.8 million. Montreal’s offer, however, contains the maximum amount of signing bonus possible.

While the annual average value of the deal is probably below market, the only real stressor upon Carolina would be paying most of the amount early on in the term. That’s a less-than-ideal structure for Carolina, but it’s not a real problem for a team whose owner is as purportedly liquid as Tom Dundon.

Aho, 21, is a bona fide superstar. He scored 30 goals and 83 points for the Hurricanes last season, team-highs in both.

Carolina is widely expected to match the offer, but the landscape of contract negotiation and competition is certainly changing in the NHL.

Headline photo: Carolina Hurricanes

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