Let’s say no offer sheet was presented, would Carolina’s offer be longer than 5 years or do you think they would try and bridge it and perhaps do less? Bergevin “says” Aho wanted to come to Montreal. They present an offer that can easily get matched and Aho is now available a few years sooner than a possible max term he may have gotten. But the Canadiens can’t be that smart right?
The other way to look at it is Aho signed an offer sheet he knew Hurricanes would match because he wanted to stay.
theres no way Carolina would want a 5 year deal because it takes him directly to UFA of course they should still match though
right but I mean there is 0 chance CAR was offering any 5 year deals it would have been 2-3 year deals or 8 year deals
I especially like this part: The "others" in question being, of course, other hockey players. You know, NHL employees, who the NHL is purportedly not responsible for.
Carolina wanted seven years but his agent wasn’t budging. They’re been really tough in other negotiations and I guess Aho didn’t want to put up with that. I don’t think they needed an offer sheet to get that kind of contract done, though. Bergevin had the right idea but that was a joke of an offer sheet unless he thought Aho wanted to come to Montreal. Even then the Canes has final say so it just made their job easier.
I think I understand this and know the answer, but to confirm, a player isn’t a UFA until they’re 27 years old? Or is it a certain number of seasons played and it just happens that most are 27 by this point?
It's either by 27 years of age, or 7 years NHL service. So McDavid for example, who started in the NHL right out of the draft at 18, would've been a UFA at 25 instead of 27.
Thanks! Very interesting and makes me want to look at the history of that (like has it always been 7 years of service or has it changed and / or what is the likelihood of it changing with future CBA’s). I feel like hockey has a much longer wait for UFA status than other sports. I feel like football (and maybe basketball) you hit UFA once your first contract is done but I could be wrong.