What happens if habs can’t land hurricanes sniper?
Again, GM Bergevin doesn’t appear to have a Plan B if his pitch for Aho runs aground
Remember when Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin made bold “firstcome, first-served” contract offers to Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov two summers ago and then they both told him to take a hike?
I was thinking about that Monday afternoon after Bergevin made a bold offer sheet to Carolina Hurricanes restricted free-agent centre Sebastian Aho that is worth US$42.25 million over five years with the vast majority of it coming in the form of signing bonuses, starting with more than $21 million in the first 12 months of the deal.
Aho signed the offer sheet and wants to come to Montreal, but that doesn’t mean the Canadiens will get him. The Hurricanes have seven days to match the offer, which has an annual salary-cap hit of $8.45 million. If they do — which is highly likely — it doesn’t look like Bergevin has a Plan B.
That’s exactly what happened when Markov and Radulov walked away, leaving more than $8 million in unspent salary-cap money sitting in Canadiens owner Geoff Molson’s pockets in each of the last two seasons. The team missed the playoffs both years.
Now, the Canadiens have $11.8 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.com, as they wait to see if the Hurricanes match the offer. The longer Carolina waits, the more it will hurt Bergevin as far as making another move and Hurricanes GM Don Waddell isn’t in the mood to help the Canadiens right now.
If the Hurricanes match, there’s not much left on the freeagent market for Bergevin after Monday’s frenzy of signings, including Matt Duchene going to the Nashville Predators and Anders Lee re-signing with the New York Islanders. Those are two forwards in whom the Canadiens had interest.
Now, Bergevin is banking on the Hurricanes not matching with no Plan B in sight — unless he can make a trade. Bergevin traded Andrew Shaw and lost Jordie Benn via free agency during the long weekend, two veterans who played key roles on the ice and in the locker-room and will be missed by their teammates.
Bergevin did add backup goalie Keith Kinkaid, who should be better than Antti Niemi was last season. However, Kinkaid’s numbers with the New Jersey Devils last season weren’t great, posting a 15-18-6 record with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
Aho can definitely make the Canadiens a better team. The Finnish centre turns 22 on July 26 and is coming off a season in which he posted 30-53-83 totals. With him on the roster, the Canadiens’ lineup of centremen would include Aho, Max
Domi, Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling and veteran Nate Thompson, with the option of moving Domi back to the wing.
But what if Aho isn’t in the lineup when the Canadiens open the season on Oct. 3 in — of all places — Carolina? Without him, right now the Canadiens look like a weaker team than they were heading into free agency with the loss of Shaw and Benn.
When I asked Bergevin during his news conference Monday in Brossard if he had a Plan B, the GM responded:
“You know what? This shows to our fans that Geoff Molson ownership that we want to be a good hockey team. We want to win and we feel that this is the guy that we identified was going to help. He’s a young player. You take a risk when you do that.
“Like you mentioned, (other)
guys are getting signed. But you can’t when you have that cap space tied up, you can’t go out and spend it and then you get the player and then you’re in that position. So you need to be smart. And that’s the risk we take. Yeah, the chair’s going to be gone by the time … but that’s the business we’re in. But we felt even though if it doesn’t happen we still have a very good hockey team.”
Bergevin is hoping the signing bonuses — especially the first one — will be too much for the budget-conscious Hurricanes. After an initial $11.3 million bonus, there’s a $9.87 million bonus before Year 2, $6.95 million before Year 3 and $5.25 million in Years 4 and 5.
“We looked at all this,” Bergevin said. “It’s not like we just woke up this morning. The first 12 months is the key.”
If the Hurricanes match, they
can’t trade Aho for a year. If they don’t match, the Canadiens will give up first-, second- and thirdround draft picks next year and get their man. If the Hurricanes can afford the first year, it would make sense to match and then look to trade Aho next summer when they’d surely get much more than three draft picks in exchange.
“I looked at the options, what was available, and that’s what as an organization we looked at the closest and we identified that Sebastian Aho was the player,” Bergevin said. “And then, after the window opened, we were able to talk and he wanted to be here in Montreal. He agreed to this, he believed it’s a really good offer for him and he wants to be part of the Montreal Canadiens.”
But what if he isn’t?