The Carolina Hurricanes have announced an eight-year, $9.75MM AAV contract extension for star center Sebastian Aho.
This is a massively consequential contract extension for the Hurricanes, who secure Aho through the 2031-32 season at a 15% raise from his previous cap hit of $8.46MM. The $78MM total value of the deal makes it the largest contract in Hurricanes franchise history.
According to PuckPedia, the contract carries a full no-move clause and no-trade clause for its first seven years before converting to a 15-team no-trade clause in year eight.
Hurricanes GM Don Waddell issued the following statement regarding the extension:
Sebastian has developed into one of the best two-way centers in hockey. He’s a tremendous leader on and off the ice who sets a great example for our younger players. We’re grateful that he’s decided to stay in Carolina for the foreseeable future.
It didn’t necessarily always look like Aho would be in Carolina for the long term, as his current contract was actually an offer sheet he signed with the Montreal Canadiens that was designed to walk him directly to UFA status.
But the Hurricanes did the widely expected move and matched the hostile offer for Aho, and have now secured him for what is likely to be the prime years of his playing career at a $9.75MM AAV. The deal gives Aho the 17th-highest cap hit in the NHL, tied with Johnny Gaudreau of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
After scoring 36 goals and 67 points last season it might be a stretch to call Aho a top-20 player league-wide.
But before last year, Aho scored at above or near a point-per-game rate every season since 2018-19, while also seeing consistent minutes on a Hurricanes penalty kill that has long ranked among the league’s best. That’s the Aho that could genuinely be called a top-20 player in the NHL.
While Aho might not be the Art Ross Trophy-contending 100+ point dominant offensive center some Hurricanes fans might wish he’d be, he’s still a true first-line center who, excluding last season’s moderately declined production, has played at an elite level for quite some time now.
His impact on both ends of the ice is immense, and the Hurricanes simply do not have anyone on their roster or in their prospect pool who projects as a difference-making number-one center the way Aho does.
This contract certainly isn’t cheap, of course, but it’s also a totally reasonable price to pay for Aho as long as his decline to 67 points last season doesn’t prove a sign of things to come. A similarly-aged center in Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders net $9.15MM on his own massive contract extension, and Barzal has been significantly less productive than Aho over the course of the last few years and doesn’t offer the same defensive value.
Seeing as Carolina purchased eight UFA years of Aho, they were never going to get a true discount on his contract. But with the cap set to rise over the next few seasons, getting Aho at an AAV below $10MM is hard to complain about.
With Aho now locked up and projected second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi under contract through 2029-30, the Hurricanes may feel they’ve secured their first and second-line centers for the rest of the decade.
If Kotkaniemi can build on his 43-point performance from last season and the momentum he had in the second half, he could become a strong second-line center behind Aho. Alongside this contract extension, that would give the Hurricanes a potentially elite two-way first-line center and a decent second-line center at a total cost of $14.57MM against the cap.
As the cap rises, we could very well see a star player or two end up commanding a $14MM AAV before the end of the decade, and it’s with that view of the future that this Aho extension feels most valuable. If Aho can manage to perform up to the standard he’s set over the past few seasons, let alone grow past that standard, he’ll provide genuine surplus value on this $9.75MM AAV.
Seeing as this deal doesn’t commit the Hurricanes to Aho deep into his thirties, the contract contains relatively minimal downside risk, meaning it should be considered a home run signing for the franchise.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
About time they extended that Aho.
happy birthday to Aho!
and the Nylander number has now been set. no way Willie can ask for 10M+ now.
I’m not debating who’s better but Nylander coming off 87 pts is going to look at Aho and Barzal and say I deserve more don’t ya think?
I understand that proven goal-scoring is a skill that teams happily overpay for, and it seems every team needs at least one of these “max term” deals, but I have to giggle that the Canes fans who are ecstatic today will be the same Canes fans who will be moaning about the cap hit when Aho hits 30 and his production declines, resulting in the predictable albatross-level contract.
Not sure they’ll be able to find time to complain about Aho being an overpaid top six center when Kotkaniemi is already on the same roster.
This seems like an overpay but he’s better than Hintz, so…this seems to be where the AAV’s are these days.
Yeah, that full no-move clause will be the real killer. Aho is an elite, consistent star, but eeesh.
Elite? I watch him play every night and strongly disagree with anyone calling him elite.
Yeah, yeah, everyone has to hate on someone. Fact of the matter is that the guy *averages* 35 goals a year per 82 games, and that counts back to when he was a teenager. He’s defensively responsible: the professional hockey writers who’ve given him Selke votes in four of the last five years sure think so. He doesn’t fold in the playoffs — he consistently averages nearly a point a game in the postseason.
The game is won with production, not in Looking The Part of a Superstar. (Says the fellow from the city that just had a first ballot Hall of Famer retire who never did look the part of a Force of Nature.) There isn’t a team in the league that wouldn’t be happy to have him.
Geez, I’d settle for a modest 50 million for my next birthday.
Give me $50 and I’d be happy.
~O_o~ $78 Mil…..?
50 goal seasons: 0
40 goal seasons: 0
Look, I know this dude’s ‘valuable’ to this franchise, but these numbers are dizzying…
And yes, Happy Birthday, Sebastian….
Makes the Barzal extension look that much more ridiculous.
Gerry Johansson nailed this deal when he got Bergevin to give up that offer sheet.
Waddell never had a chance.