Confirmed with Link: Canes officially match l'offre hostile from MTL for Aho

[Nikishin Go Boom]

*THAT WAS OUR PLAN*

We wanted Aho to get more and more stressed out over the course of the summer about this turning into a Nylander-type situation that he was willing to go to six years, then seven, then eight. It's called negotiating. It's called leverage. And the fact that Aho was concerned enough to seek out an offer sheet probably means it could have worked, too.

Whether or not it was our plan, a stupid one by the way, Aho didn’t want it. He didn’t feel like he would get what he wanted from the Canes so, his agent found someone that would. And Aho signed it. If Aho had felt like he was going to get close what he wanted from DW, I doubt that he would have signed an offer sheet.
The remaining restricted free agents must feel they will get what they are comfortable with and haven’t signed an offer sheet. Aho didn’t and signed the sheet. Now he gets what he wants without sacrificing.

 

[Lempo]

Well, I think it's obvious why. They thought they could take advantage of the "poor" "cash-strapped" and "cheap" Carolina Hurricanes.

I don't know what they thought. I think it was a smart game by Bergy to

1) sign an SPC, where an RFA clearly leaves money on the team's table, to drive the salary down when he has his own guys needing an off-the-ELC contract soon enough, and

2) at the same time take the chance to get the guy for himself on that affordable SPC by putting in a big-market friendly signing bonuses.

If Canes hadn't matched *that* contract, MTL could legitly claim this team shouldn't be in the league and get silently absolved by the 29 other GMs. What was the quote: " those guys throw you an anchor"?

 

[My Special Purpose]

The remaining restricted free agents must feel they will get what they are comfortable with and haven’t signed an offer sheet.

The one thing you continue to gloss over is that the remaining RFAs can only sign an offer sheet if one is offered. It's possible that some of these guys are as pissed about their own negotiations as Aho, but they don't have a team willing to solve their problem for them.

No matter how you slice it, this comes down to Montreal making a big very bad decision.

 

[vorbis]

 

[zman77]

 

[zman77]

 

[Lempo]

"They went fishing, got a bite, but couldn't reel the Aho tuna into the boat."

Oh what a ball drop.

 

[NotOpie]

If Aho had felt like he was going to get close what he wanted from DW, I doubt that he would have signed an offer sheet.

I think you're missing the point of the apparently two most important things to Sebastian. The first, as we've all agreed, was term. He wanted the 5 years and likely wasn't going to move off of that. Sure, over time, Don might have worn him down and gotten an extra year, but I'm not even sure of that.

The second and clearly very important thing was the process itself. Aho clearly didn't want to spend all Summer with the uncertainty and likely hassle of negotiating a deal. So he astutely allowed his agent to find an acceptable deal that would clearly be matched by the Hurricanes.....and he signed it knowing good and well that Waddell and Co. would match.

 

[bleedgreen]

I don’t think we can really take that strong a stance on it. He signed a contract with another team. We can take educated guesses on what his real reasons were but at the end of the day he clearly was 100% ok with pulling the pin off the grenade and tossing it in the middle of this mess - and completely accepting of whatever outcome.

Everyone involved understands the possible backlash, and there’s a lot of spinning of this going on out there - even from those around Aho. He chose an unfriendly way to get where he wanted to be, and everyone is trying to be ok with that. As they probably should be.

He still signed, and he still had to be ok with the outcome. I think he was relatively ambivalent. He would’ve been a little sad if we didn’t match, but he probably would’ve gotten over it really quickly when he got there and saw his face on billboards and was immediately thrown into such an obsessed market. He’s a competitive kid. He would like all that.

 

[Lempo]

I don’t think we can really take that strong a stance on it. He signed a contract with another team. We can take educated guesses on what his real reasons were but at the end of the day he clearly was 100% ok with pulling the pin off the grenade and tossing it in the middle of this mess - and completely accepting of whatever outcome.

Like he was some sports superstar level player or something.

 

[Svechhammer]

I don’t think we can really take that strong a stance on it. He signed a contract with another team. We can take educated guesses on what his real reasons were but at the end of the day he clearly was 100% ok with pulling the pin off the grenade and tossing it in the middle of this mess - and completely accepting of whatever outcome.

Its also entirely likely that he's smart enough to know the move he pulled had about a 0.001% chance of ending up with him in Montreal over Carolina, so all this hand wringing about "throwing the grenade" and "accepting either result" could just as likely be complete and utter horse shit and he knew the end game before he made his move.

I could get all this hand wringing if he signed a $11m per year deal where we had to seriously debate whether it was wise to match or if we would be better off with the picks, but $8.5m? That was an immediate rubber stamp match by the Canes, and Aho knew it before he signed it. Listen to what Aho is saying, listen to what Turbo is saying to the media as well. There was no intention of playing anywhere but Raleigh, he just wanted the contract done and made his move to do it.

I know you tend to always go toward the situation that clowns on the Canes the most, but this one really isn't that complicated.

 

[bleedgreen]

Its also entirely likely that he's smart enough to know the move he pulled had about a 0.001% chance of ending up with him in Montreal over Carolina, so all this hand wringing about "throwing the grenade" and "accepting either result" could just as likely be complete and utter horse **** and he knew the end game before he made his move.

I could get all this hand wringing if he signed a $11m per year deal where we had to seriously debate whether it was wise to match or if we would be better off with the picks, but $8.5m? That was an immediate rubber stamp match by the Canes, and Aho knew it before he signed it. Listen to what Aho is saying, listen to what Turbo is saying to the media as well. There was no intention of playing anywhere but Raleigh, he just wanted the contract done and made his move to do it.

I know you tend to always go toward the situation that clowns on the Canes the most, but this one really isn't that complicated.

Why am I clowning on the canes?

I’ve seen a lot of people defensive about Aho’s mindset, which we can never really know. I just don’t see how you sign a contract with another team without in your mind accepting it’s a possibility that it’s going to happen. That’s it.

I never had any issue with the Canes on this? I wish they had signed him sooner but that could’ve been player pushed the whole time.

I’m critical of the team when I feel it’s appropriate. Last year’s trade has really been the only thing I was that strong on, and I honestly liked the trade if we kept the pieces.

 

[The Stranger]

Is the RFA draft pick compensation fairly matched? If so, GM's and players should start embracing RFA offer-sheets as it is a good concept/mechanism to increase market efficiency and make contract negotiation less painful.

Hopefully the hostile teams are smart enough to account for the additional costs of the draft picks...and therefore theoretically should be offering no more than a fair market contract.

In scenarios of irrational exuberance and above market AAV offerings, the team owning the rights would then receive above market compensation for the player.

It all hinges on the draft pick compensation making sense though...otherwise I see no reason for offer-sheeting to be taboo...it worked very well for Aho and the Canes...surprised we haven't seen others follow.

 

[bleedgreen]

I think that the pick compensation isn’t strong enough. To lose Aho at the salary he signed for and only getting the picks we were lined up to receive made the matching a no brainer. There was no pull to not match. I know they made the picks less painful than they used to be to entice teams to offer them but there has to be some balance.

There has to be some silver lining to letting a guy go. There wasn’t for us.

 

[GoldiFox]

Is the RFA draft pick compensation fairly matched? If so, GM's and players should start embracing RFA offer-sheets as it is a good concept/mechanism to increase market efficiency and make contract negotiation less painful.

Hopefully the hostile teams are smart enough to account for the additional costs of the draft picks...and therefore theoretically should be offering no more than a fair market contract.

In scenarios of irrational exuberance and above market AAV offerings, the team owning the rights would then receive above market compensation for the player.

It all hinges on the draft pick compensation making sense though...otherwise I see no reason for offer-sheeting to be taboo...it worked very well for Aho and the Canes...surprised we haven't seen others follow.

A 1st + 2nd + 3rd is nowhere near enough compensation to consider letting Aho walk.

Aho might have been the only RFA in the past 6 years (since ROR) who was actually willing to sign an offer sheet. Montreal only extended this offer sheet due to the league-wide perception that the Canes would be too poor to match a reasonable contract. I'd be surprised to see this flavor of offer sheet again. If there is another OS then it should be the "press a team against the Cap" variety.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think that the pick compensation isn’t strong enough. To lose Aho at the salary he signed for and only getting the picks we were lined up to receive made the matching a no brained. There was no pull to not match. I know they made the picks less painful than they used to be to entice teams to offer them but there has to be some balance.

There has to be some silver lining to letting a guy go. There wasn’t for us.

The thing though. The Habs could have made the pick package much better without much more compensation to have a better silver lining, but they (or Aho) chose not to. Giving up another 1st round pick and throwing another .5M-1M / year at Aho seems like a no brainer for MTL to try and obtain a guy like Aho.

In the end, it doesn't matter though. I think Aho wanted to get the 5 years, wanted to get the deal done quickly and wanted to remain in Carolina. He was willing to use the offersheet process to get the deal done to his liking, knowing that there was a small chance he could end up elsewhere, which he would have been fine with, and was a risk he was willing to take. It was a negotiating tool and he and his agent used it to perfection.

 

[The Stranger]

I agree that retaining Aho at 8.5X5 was a no-brainer with the alternative being a 1st, a 2nd, and 3rd in compensation.

...but that doesn't necessarily mean the compensation isn't currently strong enough...Aho is clearly worth signing at $8.5X5...that is what makes matching a no-brainer.

What contract for Aho would not be worth matching...this is the true test of the compensation? What if MTL had offered a $10.6M+ AAV contract and compensation would've been 4 1sts?

 

[GoldiFox]

I agree that retaining Aho at 8.5X5 was a no-brainer with the alternative being a 1st, a 2nd, and 3rd in compensation.

...but that doesn't necessarily mean the compensation isn't currently strong enough...Aho is clearly worth signing at $8.5X5...that is what makes matching a no-brainer.

What contract for Aho would not be worth matching...this is the true test of the compensation? What if MTL had offered a $10.6M+ AAV contract and compensation would've been 4 1sts?

$10.5 million (4 x 1sts) would still be worth it for the Canes to match. On top of that Montreal would never make an offer that high which would result in giving up 4 firsts. They didn't even want to go up to the 2 firsts range.

Montreal would have had to offer $12+ million IMO for the Canes not to match.

 

[Chrispy]

I agree that retaining Aho at 8.5X5 was a no-brainer with the alternative being a 1st, a 2nd, and 3rd in compensation.

...but that doesn't necessarily mean the compensation isn't currently strong enough...Aho is clearly worth signing at $8.5X5...that is what makes matching a no-brainer.

What contract for Aho would not be worth matching...this is the true test of the compensation? What if MTL had offered a $10.6M+ AAV contract and compensation would've been 4 1sts?

I still match. A 1C is hard to find, and Montreal with Aho and their current team would not be likely to be in the lottery for the next 4 years.

Maybe $10.6M for 4 years is a tougher call, especially if you knew Aho would be likely to leave as a UFA after 4 years. But Aho has stated it was his intent to stay in Raleigh, and I think the Canes at least can keep him with a competitive offer in 5 years so I would still probably match.

 

[RodTheBawd]

4 1sts would actually give me pause.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I agree that retaining Aho at 8.5X5 was a no-brainer with the alternative being a 1st, a 2nd, and 3rd in compensation.

...but that doesn't necessarily mean the compensation isn't currently strong enough...Aho is clearly worth signing at $8.5X5...that is what makes matching a no-brainer.

What contract for Aho would not be worth matching...this is the true test of the compensation? What if MTL had offered a $10.6M+ AAV contract and compensation would've been 4 1sts?

Yep, 4 first would have at least given the Canes pause to think about it. One problem from MTL's end though is they would set a high bar for their own players (Domi, Kotkaniemi) so their is a balance they had to keep in mind.

I could be way off, but part of me thinks Aho and his agent didn't want to hamstring the team he ended up with too much though.
- AAV is very good for an Aho level player.
- Cash upfront is less than ideal for Carolina, it doesn't cripple the team and it allowed MTL to feel they had a chance at this succeeding.
- Aho only makes $7.7M, $6.0M, $6.0M in his final 3 years when Carolina would need money for Svech, Necas, Hamilton(?) etc.., and MTL would need money for Domi, Kotkaniemi, Gallagher, Poehling, etc...

Aho's contract allows the team to still make the right moves to keep them competitive.

 

[Svechhammer]

4 1sts would actually give me pause.

It would make me seriously consider how good/bad I think Montreal is going to be over the next few years. If I had the faith that they would suck, I would have let him go.

Thing is, we would have had 3 first round picks next year if that happened. You could either use those in a deep draft and really set yourself up for the future, or you could package 2 of them in a deal with another player for a serious upgrade for the roster from a team that is looking to build for the future.

But yeah, they would have had to get Aho to sign a ridiculous offer sheet to make that even a remote possibility.

 

[Lurk Muller]

The way I see it is if I signed that offer sheet, I would be nearly certain I'm staying a Hurricane.

If for whatever reason it's not matched I'd be 100% ok with leaving because of how reasonable the contract was.

So basically, wanting to leave hinged on the condition that the Canes were going to be dummies about it. And I think that's totally reasonable.

Or maybe he hates martinook for trying to sneak behind him to retrieve a flip flop during an interview. Well never know for sure.

 

[MinJaBen]

I could be way off, but part of me thinks Aho and his agent didn't want to hamstring the team he ended up with too much though.

I seriously doubt you are off at all. After TT's signing during the season, one of the reporters asked Aho about it and he said it was a nice contract for both TT and the team. He is certainly aware of the contracts on the team and what would be a bad contract for competitive purposes.

Would not shock me at all if Aho becomes a GM one day. Would not shock me at all if Dundon is already planning on it being for the Canes.

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

I seriously doubt you are off at all. After TT's signing during the season, one of the reporters asked Aho about it and he said it was a nice contract for both TT and the team. He is certainly aware of the contracts on the team and what would be a bad contract for competitive purposes.

Would not shock me at all if Aho becomes a GM one day. Would not shock me at all if Dundon is already planning on it being for the Canes.

First player GM in 5 years. 1x8 player deal and 10m/ year GM contract