Hurricanes: Sebastian Aho is the most Underrated Player in the League

Sebastian Aho is seventh in the league in goals and there seems to be an underwhelming number of national conversations about the Hurricanes forward.

David Pastrnak. Auston Matthews. Alex Ovechkin. Nathan MacKinnon. Leon Draisaitl. Jack Eichel. That’s it.  Those are the only players in the NHL right now with more goals than Sebastian Aho, who is having a career season so far with the Carolina Hurricanes. Every year he keeps getting better and better. And noone is talking about it.

Sure there are plenty of people talking about. We are. Other outlets are, but he is not considered an elite player by the majority of sports media. Is it because he plays in Carolina where the media is afraid to be bitten by a radioactive redneck? Or is it because they hang up on us for having an accent they cant handle before we can get to talking about Aho’s excellence.

That last part I am still not over, and I am a yankee by birth.

But in seriousness, Aho has 31 amazing goals and 21 assists through 56 games. That puts him top 10 in goals and top 30 in points, along with the rest of his SAT line. That is right, both Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen are in the top 30 in points, making this line one of the most dangerous in the NHL.

Yes not a single one of them was selected to the NHL All Star game last month. Teuvo was once again on the last man in card, but thats a popularity contest, it wasn’t going to happen against a big market city like DC and T.J. Oshie.

We seriously need to talk about Sebastian Aho more.

Sebastian Aho was drafted the same season as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. He went 35th overall in the second round. Of that draft class Aho is THIRD in goals behind McDavid and Eichel. He is fifth in assists and quickly looking to catch up with Matthew Barzal to jump into fourth. Overall putting him in fourth in total points.

Again he went in the second round. That ment that every team in the league passed on him at least once. Even the Hurricanes. Even the Oilers and Sabres after they got their slam dunk picks.

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The stats are even more insane once you dig a little further into them. For example he is still fourth in total point share with only Zach Werenski of the Blue Jackets getting between the Finn and Jack and Connor.

Now for the real mind blowing stat. Aho has played in 44 and 45 games less than McDavid and Eichel respectively, putting him at roughly the same goals per game pace as the first two draft picks.

Meaning that if you were to go back and redo the whole draft again, knowing what we know now. Sebastian Aho could have been either an Oiler, Sabre, or Coyote. The Hurricanes have an absolute steal in Aho and they know it.

If none of these stats are convincing you that Sebastian Aho is underrated here is one final statistic:

Since coming into the league Sebastian Aho is 16th overall in goals. That is goals scored in the last four seasons (including this one). That gives him more goals than Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, Jamie Benn, and even Steven Stamkos. All those names are household names in the NHL. It’s high time Sebastian Aho became one too.

Question for CC Readers: Do you believe that Sebastian Aho is underrated?