No one in their right mind is going to argue that Sebastian Aho had anything but a stellar month of December. In 15 games, he scored 9 in 45 SOG. Four of those 9 coming on the Power Play, and 1/3 of them were game winners. He also helped with 19 and was +3. He was named to the NHL All-Star game, and the NHL 1st Star of the month. But what would all these stats and trimmings look like if he was able to keep that up for the rest of the year? What could it look like if Aho managed half? Where would the Hurricanes be?
Let's answer that last question first. Carolina scored 49 goals in the month of December. That ranks them 4th in the NHL for the month, tied with the New Islanders. Following that same trend, that is 137 goals for the rest of the regular season. Not to shabby but where the cream rises to the top is in the Metro Division standings.
While the Metro Division leading New York Rangers picked up 18 points in 14 game during December, Carolina gained 17. That leaves a margin of 1 going at the season's end. Not the best of out comes except for the fact that the Canes and Rangers face each other once more. A regulation win in that game would hypothetically put the Hurricanes in the lead of the Metro Division and give them home ice advantage for the playoffs.
Should Aho play the 15 games of December on the repeat until the end of the year, he will finished with 40 goals and a whapping 109 points for the year. He'll also have played 792.74 minutes on 963.2 more shifts. That is a ton of ice time for anyone. If there is anyone who can do that on Carolina's roster, it is Sebastian Aho.
We would all love to see Aho play out the rest of the season like his hair was on fire and the tail was catching, but the likelihood of such a massive second half of the season is low. So what about if he plays out the rest of the year at half the clip? What do the numbers look like that that. Here is what his line would read. Not bad for a season at all.
28 G 49 A 77 P 19 PPG
Could one of those additional10 power play goals be the difference in that critical game against the Rangers? I like the odds.
This is all conjecture and stats playing out a different levels. Will Sebastian Aho play as well in the remaining games of the season as he did in the 15 games of December? We can hope! That would be great for not only Aho, but the Carolina Hurricanes as a team. Continued production at any level from Aho means the chances of Hurricanes winning the Metro Division increase considerably.