Canadiens Go After Necas?

[Anybodyhome]

You gotta read this. Pretty amusing because it's apparent the writer knows nothing about how bad Necas's season really was. And, if the Habs did pull a Jesperi revenge move, the Canes would likely go silent and let Necas go. Let Montreal put an offer sheet on Necas for about $4.5 AAV and Waddell would probably not respond.

https://sports.yahoo.com/m/328e50f8-7c62-36de-82f9-3358157060cc/canadiens-should-send.html

Stieg Larsson once said “To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it’s an absolute duty.” As we continue through the NHL offseason, the Montreal Canadiens might have an absolute duty on their hands to exact revenge.

A Quick History Lesson

The offer sheet was for an AAV of $8.454 million for five years. The Hurricanes had seven days to match. Then GM Marc Bergevin didn’t mince his words when it came to Aho. “He’s a player who wants to come to Montreal,” Bergevin said of the offer sheet. “It was an offer that he did not have to accept, so for him it’s an offer that for the value he sees in himself, the group of young players coming up in our organization, he wants to be part of that. He’s 21, he’ll turn 22 this summer.”

“It’s certainly a surprise. It’s a surprise it wasn’t more,” Waddell said. “I know my summer just got better, because I’m not going to be negotiating a contract all summer. We make a decision and move on.”

Six days later, Waddell and the Hurricanes made their decision. They stuck to their word.

The Hurricanes matched the offer sheet on Aho keeping him in Carolina. In the end, it was an easy decision for everyone involved.

“I’m just relieved that it’s done and Sebastian’s not going to have to worry about this anymore. He’s a great player and a big asset for us,” owner Tom Dundon said.

“We said all along that we would match any contract offer,” Waddell said. “It should come as no surprise from anybody that we are (matching) it.” Then in one last shot to the Canadiens, Waddell said that Aho “never wanted to leave Raleigh.”

While this situation was fun while it lasted as we finally got to see an actual offer sheet presented, we all thought this was the end. But in a plot twist, it was only the beginning. It seemed the Hurricanes wanted to get some revenge. A little more than two years later, they struck.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the third-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, was given a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet by the Hurricanes. The Canadiens now had seven days to match. Like Bergevin before, Waddell didn’t mince his words.

Related: Hurricanes Get Sweet Revenge With Kotkaniemi Offer Sheet

“Jesperi Kotkaniemi accepted our offer. He wants to come to Carolina,” Waddell said. “He sees the core we’ve built here and he wants to be a part of that. We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period. When you make an offer like that, we saw a vulnerable position. The offer, with the compensation and the core we have, we realized that it was the best chance we had to get the player.”

Familiar sounding words, right? But then the Hurricanes took it even a step further and offered Kotkaniemi a $20 signing bonus, the same number as Aho. Not only did Waddell not forget about the Aho offer sheet, he wanted to make sure the Canadiens never forgot it either. He got his revenge. But unlike the Aho offer sheet, the Canadiens elected not to match allowing the player to join the Hurricanes.

Bergevin might be gone. But don’t think the Canadiens have forgotten about this series of events. In fact, they are now in a position to exact some revenge of their own. How crazy would that be? Given what’s led to this, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for this to happen.

The Canadiens should send the Hurricanes a revenge offer sheet. The target? 23-year old forward Martin Necas.

Canadiens Revenge

Let’s set the scene for you. On the surface, the Hurricanes appear to have more than ample cap room to answer any offer sheet thrown their way. As of this writing, they have over $19.3 million in cap space available.

But looks can be deceiving. They are in this case. Not only do they have to fill out their roster, they have the eventual task of signing Aho to a long-term deal after the 2023-24 season coming off an AAV of $8.46 million. That’s going to be a doozy.

So from an actual dollars available standpoint, it’s considerably less than what we see. Necas is coming off his rookie deal and due a considerable raise given he’s reached 40 points the last two seasons and averaging 15 goals in his first three seasons. The talent is tantalizing.

[MillionDollarCam]

Lol, we’d get a top five draft pick for Necas so I’m down… won’t happen though. Any chance of the Canadians offer sheeting Necas disappeared once we all learned that they aren’t even a fringe playoff team, they are a bottom dweller.