The Carolina Hurricanes, apparently, do not forget.
Two years and (almost) two months after the Montreal Canadiens inked (then) restricted free agent Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet, the Canes turned the tables. Saturday, in the middle of a sweltering North Carolina afternoon, Tom Dundon and company turned the heat up on the Canadiens with a 1-year, $6.1 million offer sheet to 21-year old center Jesperi Kotkaneimi.
"When you make an offer like this, you see a position that is a bit vulnerable...with the group of young players we have, with the contracts that are coming up in the future, we realized that this was the best place for us to be, with the best chance of getting the player”
Those words actually came from Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin, July 1, 2019, upon getting Aho’s signature on that offer sheet, one the Hurricanes obviously had no issue meeting. Oddly enough, Canes’ GM Don Waddell’s comments -- via team press release -- seemed oddly similar. “When you make an offer like that, we saw a vulnerable position. The offer, with the compensation and the core we have, we realized that it was the best chance we had to get the player.”
I’m sorry, but it’s really hard to stop laughing about this. I expect that the Canadiens will match the offer sheet as Kotkaneimi is one of their bright young players. However, the player who was taken 3rd overall in the 2018 draft -- yes, immediately following Andrei Svechnikov -- isn’t worth anywhere close to the $6.1 million price tag. Oh wait, I almost forgot the $20 signing bonus.
No, that is NOT a misprint. I didn’t forget a comma and four zeros, or five zeros. The signing bonus is TWENTY DOLLARS. A Starbucks gift card, a good pair of socks, or a beer and a half at PNC Arena.
Sebastian Aho’s uniform number is 20 isn’t it? Hmmmmm
Now, back to the fact that the Hurricanes just promised to give a player all that money who in three NHL seasons has 62 points in 171 games. He’s basically scoring at a Brock McGinn level and we just saw McGinn leave town for less than half of that ($2.75 million) in average annual value.
Of course, Kotkaneimi isn’t McGinn, he’s a fantastic prospect with tremendous upside that just hasn’t had the light come on for him yet. But, $6.1 million? That’s almost $100,000 per career point!
It’s at least twice what Montreal was probably hoping to pay a player who has yet to really gain traction. And, if the Habs don’t match the offer, Carolina will not only lose 1st and 3rd round picks in next summer’s draft, but they’ve just guaranteed a yet-to-develop player a very developed player’s annual salary.
In other words, if the Hurricanes want to keep Kotkaneimi after this season it will cost them at least another $6.1 million in a qualifying offer. It’s kind of a put up type season suddenly for a player. You can get away with that for one year, but if Jesperi fails to take a significant step forward, it’s likely that this will end up as a $6.1 million practical joke -- no matter how satisfying the revenge may be.
One more thing, unless head coach Rod Brind’Amour wants Kotkaneimi to center the 4th line (spoiler, he doesn’t), you have to expect that he’ll have to play left wing this year. Who knows, playing the wing was good for Aho’s development. Same with Martin Necas and way back when it was also beneficial to Eric Staal.
But, slice it any way you want, this is absolutely hysterical, straight down to the plagiarized statement from Waddell. But, it comes with a cost. Montreal might have slightly overpaid Aho two summers ago, but the contract wasn’t outrageous. This one is ludicrous, no matter how great his possession metrics are.
For now, the joke is on Montreal. A year from now, I'm not sure.
Right now I'm laughing.
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