Carolina Hurricanes: 3 takeaways from win in Quebec

Canes trolling of Habs is not done yet

Carolina’s social media team is a bunch of jerks. After the team completed their 4-1 over the Montreal Canadiens, the team tweeted out a link to a website called “Didthehabslose.com” and started to sell Sebastian Aho and Jesperi Kotkaniemi shirts for $20 in reference to Kotkaniemi’s signing bonus.

We all know the ongoing off-ice feud between the two organizations. Make no mistake, there was not a lot of garbage on the ice. Both teams played a good, clean game. Carolina had some stupid penalties, but there was nothing outlandishly stupid from either team to endanger opponents. This disagreement is between the front offices of the respective organizations.

So for newer fans that do not understand why the two organizations are at war in the public relations department, it goes back to the 2019 NHL summer. July 1st and free agency has just opened. Carolina was a major player in the market given the lower tax rates and the fact the organization was coming off an Eastern Conference Finals birth. Then the unusual happened.

Star center Sebastian Aho was tendered to an offer sheet. It was matched almost instantly because it was a weak offer sheet given the abilities of a player like Aho, but it hurt Canes owner Tom Dundon. Aho’s deal is bonus-loaded and Montreal hoped they could get this player without trading for him just by loading the deal and watching Dundon cheap out. Dundon decided to embarrass the habs.

Dundon replied by instantly saying “Well our summer got easier” and suggesting that the offer sheet was so weak that it was inconceivable to do anything but match now that Carolina had been gifted this perfect contract. He outlined all the great things the habs had done and was insulted that they thought he would cheap out, and Dundon doesn’t forget.

So, this summer, Carolina offer sheeted Jesperi Kotkaniemi and they did it properly. 1 year deal with a higher cap hit so that it doesn’t anchor the team for years, and a low enough cap hit for the compensation to not be ridiculous. It got Kotkaniemi to sign and it made it nearly impossible for the Habs to match given the cap issues the organization had.

This summer, the Canadiens retaliated by reporting the Canes to the league for not playing the minimum required number of pre-season games. To this point, I believe the NHL granted the Hurricanes an amnesty along with a few other teams to play fewer pre-season games. This was due to a variety of reasons.

Now, the Canes are the proud owners of a website that says “Did the habs lose” in the name because the team is not at all petulant. Anyway, their next game is in Columbus, and there will be a preview for that game here on Cardiac Cane. Until then, LETS GO CANES.