The Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens “Rivalry” has increasingly intensified as the Sebastian Aho Contract fiasco comes to an end.
The 2019 NHL offseason has been a wild one for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes saw many players and coaches in the organization depart, and in return many new faces were added to the team. Most notably, Micheal Ferland was able to sign a new 4 year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.
His point production and enforcing style of play will definitely be missed but Ferland was also unfortunately injured often. Regardless, the Canes had to replace his 40 points and they were able to by going out and getting a stud in Ryan Dzingel.
Ryan Dzingel had 56 points in 78 games played last season for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Ottawa Senators. Ferland and Dzingel play a different game but the Canes were able to sign a good player at great value.
The Canes had many more offseason moves such as the trades that brought in Reimer and Haula, two players who will likely play big roles in the season ahead. However, none of the offseason news was as big as the Sebastian Aho contract situation.
Sebastian Aho was a restricted free agent this offseason and the Canes have been trying to get a deal with him accomplished for quite some time. Most teams in the league knew Aho was going to resign with the Canes as owner Tom Dundon stated that the team would match any offer for the young Finnish star. However, one team did not get the memo and that was the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canes and Habs have had tension growing for quite some time now. Only a few short months ago, the Hurricanes practically knocked the Canadiens out of the playoffs. The Canes also knocked them out of the playoffs in both 2002 and 2006 in the only two times the teams have met in the postseason.
The two teams had growing tension already and the Aho contract situation exponentially made it worse. Fans from both sides argued whether or not Aho wanted to be a Hurricanes or a Canadien.
The Canadiens also front loaded Aho’s contract with a likely thought that the Canes couldn’t match it. However, as previously stated the Canes weren’t going to let the star go and had a little fun with it.
Will we match the offer sheet for Sebastian Aho?
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 1, 2019
Tweets such as the one above were all over the Canes social media accounts and it was questioned whether or not Aho wanted to be a Hurricane. That speculation was immediately shot down when Aho himself had something to say on the matter when his contract was officially matched a week later.
https://twitter.com/SebastianAho/status/1147928380521799680
Aho stated that “it was always my hope to return to the Hurricanes”. This helped remove all speculation that Aho wanted to be apart of Montreal. In the end, Aho was looking for the best contract he could get. The Canes were able to retain their star and it seemed for awhile that the tension was over between the two organizations.
However, nothing can be forgotten and the Canes recently snagged Ryan Dzingel, a player that was rumored to be targeted by Montreal. The Canes signed Dzingel for his stellar play last season but one can only think that Don Waddell and Co had a big laugh after convincing him to sign with the Canes rather than the Canadiens.
All jokes aside, the Canes and Habs potentially look like they have a rivalry brewing, but likely won’t surpass the Canes bigger rivals in Washington, Boston, and Pittsburgh.
However, one thing for sure is that PNC will be rocking on opening night against the Canadiens and you can probably expect some bad blood and a few choice words will be shared.
Canes and Habs fans, go ahead and mark October third in your calendar as It can’t get here fast enough!
CC Readers: Do you think Montreal should be classified as a rival?