Aho got exactly what he wanted and got it quickly. Now he can play golf the rest of the summer.
Habsy and habspatrol, you can change your ids to cansey and canespatrol and join us incognito.
I've seen a lot of Habs fans posting about the Canes not being a max cap team during all of this. Well we are getting there.
Doesn’t matter anymore. Business is business.
Look. Nobody in this increasingly sad little footnote in the NHL's weird history of RFA offer sheets comes out looking like a genius.
Carolina put the negotiating screws to their franchise player. Yeah, that's their right and the CBA only gives them so many windows where they have real leverage. But there's having leverage and then there's knowing how and when to use it. That's something this front office needs to learn over the next two years before we're in this same boat with Svech. Be smarter, and be more diplomatic.
Aho's agent clearly and without doubt under-estimated both the will of Tom Dundon and the depth of his available funds. Honestly, that's kind of kindergarten level stuff for an agent and no matter how his friends in the Montreal press want to spin it to make both him and their club look good, he's coming out this looking like a toolbag.
Aho jumped on this wagon right before it careened down the hill, so no matter what he says from here out he will always be the guy who jumped on a futile offer sheet of his own free will. That won't matter to everyone. It WILL matter to some, and that's a shame for a young man who had built up almost unlimited credibility in a market.
Everything else is kind of window dressing.
I don't think the question of whether Aho wants to be here or would rather be somewhere else is window dressing. It could become a locker room issue. However, I don't think it will because (1) it may not be true, and if you choose to believe Dundon/Waddell, it's entirely not true; (2) it's not uncommon for players (especially RFAs) to be playing in places that are not their #1 choice, or even their #10 choice, but they do it and do it well because pro athletes know that that is just the way it is (except in the NBA); and (3) Aho is well-liked in the room.
This whole thing, whatever anyone tries to tell me, is very disheartening.
Aho needs to come out, like yesterday, and call his agent a liar, and say he exaggerated.
My $.25.
He is doing the right thing, getting max value for his short time as a player.
Players time in the nhl will be getting shorter and shorter. This is because kids are getting stronger and better and will be displacing veterans at a faster rate.