Swing and a miss for Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin.
On July 1st, the 53-year-old presented an offer sheet to Carolina Hurricanes RFA Sebastian Aho worth $42.27 million over five years . The number came as a surprise considering Aho was reportedly looking for $9.5 per year, and it wasn’t long before Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell confirmed the team would be matching the offer. On Sunday they made it official, making Aho a Caniac for the next half-decade. Bergevin released a statement outlining the organization’s objective.
Short and sweet!
Had the Hurricanes not matched, Montreal would have surrendered a first, second, and third round draft pick. Montreal is now left with nearly $7.5 million in cap space with restricted free agents Charles Hudon, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia still to sign.
Aho took to Twitter and express his gratitude for the Canadiens’ offer, but insisted that returning to the Hurricanes was his hope all along. Aho led Carolina with 30 goals and 53 assists in 82 games last season.
Don’t worry Marc, there are still plenty of RFAs still out there…
(H/T Montreal Canadiens)
