An offer sheet has the potential to impact every game going forward, when you're star player is playing for another team.
I'm not mad at Aho, hell I'm glad the kid got what he's worth. If anything it reinforces my feelings on Dundon and the Borg. If they're going to try and play hardball with potential superstars they'll have to learn the hard way.
It definitely makes me look at Aho differently. They could have continued negotiations like the other 5+ high-end RFA's that have yet to sign.
Maybe I'm wrong and I truly hope that I am but I do not see him finishing out this contract with the Canes.
And in the process it's going to create more headache's in the not so distant future. Hopefully I'm eating crow in a few years, time will tell.
Late to this post but after duking it out in the main board thread for a while I opted to come check your board to see how opinions were... I do come in peace.
I don't blame Aho one bit for signing it in this league. I do think it's embarrassing from the Habs perspective but I also understand that it must be extremely frustrating for them as a top 3 value franchise in the league with a complete inability to attract FA talent. I also understand that it's not that hard to fix for them, aside from the fact that any player living here (I'm from NYC and currently live in MTL) will be absolutely mobbed out in public in the city anywhere they go like an A-list Hollywood celebrity showing up in bumf**k, Idaho. For some that's appealing, for many it's not.
But playing hardball with your top talent has always been the way. It's evolving slowly and bridge deals become more and more rare for top talent. They hold way more power than they used to. I've watched us low-ball and hardball so many RFAs over the years that I really can't find fault in the Canes' process with Aho. It was just the beginning. We used to sign most of our RFAs right down to the wire right before camp. This was so early on. I expect a decent resolution would have occurred in a week or a few weeks.
As to finishing his contract with the Canes. Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows? You're building something here. You can continue to. He may end up loving that he's a key part of that. If not, he'll pull in a large haul from many wealthy teams if you need to move him, or want to move him. That's not a bad position to be in. That's what Waddell/Dundon have to be realizing. That contract may suck for Dundon right now, but it's PERFECT for a lot of big money teams who will have a lot of cap soon. Like us. That's not at ALL my thought process in any of this, if you follow the main board thread you'll see why I dislike this whole situation and it has nothing to do with us. But there are many teams who would trade for him if that's what is needed further down. Teams with deeper pockets than the Habs and equally big prospect pools.
Matching is a no-brainer, he puts up another season like the last one and if you're in it again he develops a bond and wants to see it through or he holds a grudge and wants to leave and someone will offer equal or better than whatever the Habs do, if they do. Many teams won't balk at the bonus up front salary structure. May as well sign him and ride him, or sign him and then get PAID to offload him, to anyone BUT the Habs of course =P
