1. The Sebastian Aho Offer Sheet Situation
A lot of false narratives were being thrown around, mainly by the Montreal Canadiens fanbase. Although some fans of Montreal didn’t participate in this, others that did were trying to diminish the Hurricanes solely based on the fact that they are a small market.
They wanted to diminish the value of the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Tom Dundon. They referred to him as cheap due to attendance and old relocation rumors. Also, they would say that there is no way that an owner like that would spend that much money in that little of a span. The Hurricanes wanted Sebastian Aho for a longer term, but Aho wanted a shorter term to help himself get an additional payday. He used the Canadiens as a way to get back to Raleigh, which is what he always wanted.
#Canes GM Don Waddell: "Sebastian never wanted to leave Raleigh."
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) July 2, 2019
Don Waddell never wavered in saying that the Hurricanes would match any offer sheet that would be signed by Aho. Aho seemed to be aware of the situation when the Hurricanes officially announced that the offer sheet was matched.
How could Hurricanes players use this to motivate them?
They could play motivated in order to defend the decisions made by management. Ownership was willing to prove that they would pay to keep their own stars in Carolina. So, the Hurricanes can take this as the front office is confident in the players the team has, which can in turn boost the confidence of the team. Playing for the owner that helped the Hurricanes generate this success only further enhances the chemistry that the team has had.