That includes more than $21 million in bonuses over the first two years of the deal. If they don't, the Canadiens would get Aho and have to give Carolina a first-, a second- and a third-round pick at the NHL Draft.
Waddell, in a short press conference for media availability, mentioned that he might wait a bit to let Marc Bergevin know if he has made a decision to match the offer, or to let Sebastian Aho head to Montreal in exchange for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round draft picks. The offer sheet for Aho, a restricted free agent, was a five-year deal at $8.454 million a year.
The offer sheet is the first in the National Hockey League since the Calgary Flames tried to snatch Ryan O'Reilly from Colorado back in 2013.
Less than 15 minutes after the free-agent market opened at noon on Canada Day, the Canadiens announced they have agreed to terms on a one-year, one-way contract with goalie Keith Kinkaid that will pay him US$1.75 million. The club has a week to match the offer.
After a career year in 2017-18 that saw him post a 2.77 GAA and a.913 SV% in 41 games with New Jersey, Kinkaid wasn't able to repeat that performance last season.
Waddell said Saturday that Aho had been offered an eight-year contract by the team and that the team hoped to have a new contract in place by September and the start of training camp. Sebastian Aho played a huge part in that.
"Edmonton has offered a mostly inflated salary for a player, and I think it's an act of desperation for a general manager who is fighting to keep his job", he said. The rest of us say that Aho is using this offer as a way to get the term that he wanted. "They just missed them previous year". It probably helps the other team if I did it immediately because then they can go out and sign players and help them right now.
Waddell also reportedly joked: "I know my summer just got better, because I'm not going to be negotiating a contract all summer".
Aho, a 2015 second-round draft pick of the Hurricanes, was a major part in getting the franchise back to the postseason. That's a less-than-ideal structure for Carolina, but it's not a real problem for a team whose owner is as purportedly liquid as Tom Dundon. He's coming off his three-year, entry-level contract with Carolina that carried a cap hit of $925,000.
