Habs sign Sebastian Aho to offer sheet

[Commandant]

Aho is the only player on the entire Carolina roster to have any signing bonus money on his contract.  Just saying.

 

The idea that they could test the Carolina owner with signing bonus money wasn't a bad one.  It was never guaranteed to work but was very much, low-risk as there was nothing to lose here. 

[Metallica]

Oh wow only 2 down votes on that I was expecting to set a record with having the most disagree on one post.

[ehjay]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:37 AM, dlbalr said:

 

The first signing bonus is due five days after the offer sheet is matched so if Dundon needs time to move money around to free it up to pay the bonus, it makes sense.

And 7 days is long enough for a person with dough like that but I think Dundon kinda man that keep his cheddar in boxes, he give me the impression money in 1 box stay in that shoe box. But idk maybe you and errbobby else right and this is just a stall/piss off ploy.  I hope man broke like me, lollll   

 

EDIT:

lollll some1 downvoted me and doesn't know if i have dough, hahahahaahahaaha Ima part of the down voted folks hahahaahaahaaha

[EMELINATOR]

6 hours ago, kaos said:

Actually it's more likely to help with negotiations with Lehkonen and Armia who hold the same Finnish player agent as Aho....

Johannson (Aho's agent) reps Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher and Brett Kulak.

[kaos]

37 minutes ago, EMELINATOR said:

Johannson (Aho's agent) reps Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher and Brett Kulak.

Aho, Lehkonen and Armia all have to same Finnish player agent Mika Rautakallio(sp).

[tomh009]

Yes ... it appears that Aho's agent was Mika Rautakallio, who does represent Armia and Lehkonen as well as a slew of other Finns, but that he has now switched to Gerry Johannson.

 

Incidentally, Mika is the son of Pekka Rautakallio, a longtime Assat star and one of the first Finns to play in the NHL (Atlanta Flames, then Calgary Flames, 1979-1982).

[Commandant]

20 minutes ago, kaos said:

Aho, Lehkonen and Armia all have to same Finnish player agent Mika Rautakallio(sp).

 

He left Rautakallio for Johansson.  Don't buy your real estate from the wrong real estate agent.

[kaos]

8 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

He left Rautakallio for Johansson.  Don't buy your real estate from the wrong real estate agent.

He has 2 agents Numpty. 

 

[Commandant]

Every news story, every insider, has said that gerry johansson negotiated the deal.  Every one.

 

Maybe he has an agency handling endorsements for him in Finland.  But its pretty clear who has been doing his nhl contract work.

 

Its johannson, who also reps Point.   As well as a number of other habs.  

 

 

 

[Commandant]

Funny thing about that too.  After he signed the offer sheet, it was johansson in the media basically telling everyone that Aho wanted to go to Montreal and implying that they didnt want the Canes to match

 

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1793572

 

Its only after the Canes matched that this story of wanting to stay in carolina all along comes out.

 

You can say thats part of playing the gm, but how?  When this interview is given, the offer sheet is already signed.  The deal is done.  The only decision left is for carolina to match or not.  Why is the agent so adamant that he wants to go to Montreal if the entire plan was just for carolina to match and go back.

 

The whole narrative you are pushing doesnt make a lot of sense given the facts.

[kaos]

13 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Funny thing about that too.  After he signed the offer sheet, it was johansson in the media basically telling everyone that Aho wanted to go to Montreal and implying that they didnt want the Canes to match

 

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1793572

 

Its only after the Canes matched that this story of wanting to stay in carolina all along comes out.

 

You can say thats part of playing the gm, but how?  When this interview is given, the offer sheet is already signed.  The deal is done.  The only decision left is for carolina to match or not.  Why is the agent so adamant that he wants to go to Montreal if the entire plan was just for carolina to match and go back.

 

The whole narrative you are pushing doesnt make a lot of sense given the facts.

The narrative is simple. Aho has next to no leverage.  Carolina is lowballing him.

 

Aho agents Johansson and Raautakallio (also represents Armia and Lehkonen) convince Bergevin to offer sheet him, giving all the leverage to Aho now.

Aho doesnt want to leave Carolina. He'd be happy anywhere, Montreal included, for $8.5 million per season all front loaded.

But Montreal was probably the only team cap wise at that time that they could have used as leverage and Bergevin fell for it.

Aho never wanted to leave. He just wanted to get paid and his agents got him paid.

And if you think there is anymore or less to it than that then I dont know what to tell you. 

This is the new NHL. The young kids want to get paid and agents are working hard to figure out ways to make it happen.

[Commandant]

You didn't address why the Agent is pushing in the media for a Montreal move, after the offer sheet is signed, if he never wanted to leave.   That doesn't make any sense in this narrative you have constructed where it was a giant plan to not leave. 

If the whole idea is to sucker Bergevin, and hope Carolina matches, and not leave, as you claimed.... why is his agent doing a media tour after signing the offer sheet saying basically, we hope Carolina doesn't match?

[ehjay]

why wouldn't the kids want get paid?

some of these kids are better then the old heads.

 

the career of a pro athlete is short, no?

Teams have very little loyalty towards injured players.

 

seems like good reasons to get paid, no?

helps live rich too

 

[Commandant]

The bottom line is no one got played. 

Bergevin tried to get a player with a front loaded offer sheet knowing full well that there was a good possibility the offer could be matched.  He risked nothing in making the offer. It may have been unlikely to work, but it was a low-risk, high reward play if it did. 

The player was content to sign cause Carolina was lowballing him, and would not offer any signing bonus.  Signing bonus makes the contract essentially lockout proof and buyout proof.  Aho knew it meant either moving to Montreal or staying in Carolina.  He wanted to move (sent his agent to lobby for that), but was comfortable staying too.  If he wasn't comfortable in either spot, he would have demanded a trade instead of signing an offer sheet.

Carolina matched the offer, paying the player more than they intended to, but still not so much that it was worth losing him. 

it was business... no one got played... they all used the CBA in the way it was intended to be used.  

In order to get played, you have to be scammed out of something... no one was scammed out of anything. 

[ehjay]

off topic... can we get a "lost the day" for this fury of down votes?

[kaos]

You dont have to lose something to get played.  Two parties can be played against each other to extract the best deal from one of the 2 parties.....in this case one party loses nothing but their best intentions were played upon.

Maybe 'used' would be a better word than 'played' to describe Bergevin in this situation. 

Maybe it can be argued that Bergevin lost. His intention was to win Aho's rights. He didnt win Aho's rights so therefore he lost.

You can argue Waddell lost too since he has to pay more for an asset than he should have otherwise.  

 

Regardless of what's been said in the media either way, I honestly believe Bergevin was used by Aho's camp to maximize the return from Carolina. I don't believe Aho ever wanted to play more in Monteal than he did Carolina.  BUT was willing to go to Montreal if Carolina was not willing to sign the offer sheet.

 

 

Yes its absolutely just business.  And in business it's all about leverage and Bergevin was 'used/played' as leverage by the Aho camp.

 

 

[Commandant]

14 minutes ago, kaos said:

You dont have to lose something to get played.  Two parties can be played against each other to extract the best deal from one of the 2 parties.....in this case one party loses nothing but their best intentions were played upon.

Maybe 'used' would be a better word than 'played' to describe Bergevin in this situation. 

Maybe it can be argued that Bergevin lost. His intention was to win Aho's rights. He didnt win Aho's rights so therefore he lost.

You can argue Waddell lost too since he has to pay more for an asset than he should have otherwise.  

 

Regardless of what's been said in the media either way, I honestly believe Bergevin was used by Aho's camp to maximize the return from Carolina. I don't believe Aho ever wanted to play more in Monteal than he did Carolina.  BUT was willing to go to Montreal if Carolina was not willing to sign the offer sheet.

 

 

Yes its absolutely just business.  And in business it's all about leverage and Bergevin was 'used/played' as leverage.

 

 

 

Bergevin knew full well that this attempt to get the player might not succeed.  

That was fine though, cause the attempt cost him nothing if it didn't succeed. 

You can know that there is a low likelihood of actually getting the player, and still do it, because even if it's a 10% chance of getting him... that 10% is a huge win for your, and the 90% is no loss.  

 

And yes, the player signed cause he wanted to get paid and Carolina was low balling him. 

This still doesn't mean that anything Bergevin did in the situation is a negative, which is what some are painting it as with words like "played".  What did he do that was negative to the Habs interests. 

He tried something, it didn't work... ok, move on to the next.  But the idea that this was a big blunder and he was "used", I don't buy it.  

[DON]

2 hours ago, ehjay said:

Teams have very little loyalty towards injured players

Emelin and Markov both got good contracts while and coming off injuries.

[DON]

12 offer sheets since 1997, 11 matched.

 

[Habber31]

2 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

Bergevin knew full well that this attempt to get the player might not succeed.  

That was fine though, cause the attempt cost him nothing if it didn't succeed. 

You can know that there is a low likelihood of actually getting the player, and still do it, because even if it's a 10% chance of getting him... that 10% is a huge win for your, and the 90% is no loss.  

 

And yes, the player signed cause he wanted to get paid and Carolina was low balling him. 

This still doesn't mean that anything Bergevin did in the situation is a negative, which is what some are painting it as with words like "played".  What did he do that was negative to the Habs interests. 

He tried something, it didn't work... ok, move on to the next.  But the idea that this was a big blunder and he was "used", I don't buy it.  

The biggest issue is not having a Plan B

[Commandant]

13 minutes ago, Habber31 said:

The biggest issue is not having a Plan B

 

Its July 8th, the Pacioretty trade was made in mid September last year.  

Lets wait before we declare that he didn't have a plan B

[Habber31]

17 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

Its July 8th, the Pacioretty trade was made in mid September last year.  

Lets wait before we declare that he didn't have a plan B

As far as UFA forwards go, there was no plan B. 

 

Now, it's going to picks and roster players being moved. Addition by subtraction. Not just simply a money transaction. 

[tomh009]

16 minutes ago, Habber31 said:

As far as UFA forwards go, there was no plan B. 

 

Now, it's going to picks and roster players being moved. Addition by subtraction. Not just simply a money transaction. 

 

We don't know that yet what Plan B (or C, or D) is. Gardiner, Gostisbehere, Laine, something else altogether?

[kaos]

28 minutes ago, Habber31 said:

The biggest issue is not having a Plan B

Wasnt Duchene plan A?

That'd make the offer sheet plan B?

With so many 1 way contracts, he has to do something. 

[ehjay]

2 hours ago, DON said:

Emelin and Markov both got good contracts while and coming off injuries.

what about all the players that got no contract and med bills?

or players that have injuries that "come back" after playing days?

CTE?

Addiction?

I think injuries are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of how pro teams/leagues "forget"; see no loyalty, towards the athletes.

let the kids get paid, yeah Ima All for that, well if they at that "level", sure.