Habs News | Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin Signed Sebastian Aho to Offer Sheet, Sign Keith Kinkaid, Riley Barber to Contracts on Day One of NHL Free Agency

MONTREAL, QC. — During the first day of free agency, there were several significant trades and signings. But the talk of the hockey community was the Canadiens signing Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastien Aho to a hostile offer sheet.

The Hurricanes restricted free agent accepted the Canadiens offer of a five-year deal with an annual average value of $8.454 million. Carolina has seven days to match the Habs offer.

If Carolina chooses not to match the contract, the Canadiens will surrender to the Hurricanes a first-round pick, a second-round pick and a third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

The 21-year-old centre led his team in scoring with 30 goals, 53 assists for 83 points in 82 games this past season. Aho five goals, seven assists for 12 points in 15 playoff games.

Marc Bergevin said that the offer sheet represented “the best chance we had to get the player.”

”Sebastian Aho accepted our offer,” said the Canadiens general manager. “He wants to come to Montreal. He sees our youngsters coming up in the organization and he wants to be a part of that. We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period.”

When asked about a ‘plan B’, Bergevin admitted that his hands will be tied for the time being while they wait for the Hurricanes to make a decision. He also provided the rationale behind making such a move.

“This shows our fans that Geoff Molson and ownership that we want to be a good hockey team,” said Bergevin. “We want to win. And we feel that this is the guy that we identified that is going to help. He’s a young player. You take a risk when you do that.”

“Guys are getting signed. But when you have that cap space tied up, you can’t go out and spend it and then you get the player and you’re in a bad position. So you need to be smart and that’s the risk we take. The chair is going to be gone by the time.. but that’s the business we’re in. But we felt that even though it doesn’t happen, we’re still a very good hockey team.”

All signs point toward the #Canes matching the offer, bringing Aho under contract for the next five years.https://t.co/2IY8R0KikH

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) July 2, 2019

Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said that the team is reviewing the offer sheet that they received from the Canadiens on Monday afternoon. Waddell’s expressed his initial reaction this way, “I’m actually surprised it wasn’t more.”

“We look at Sebastian as our best player. We certainly wanted to keep him long term,” added Waddell then joked that “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.”

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The Canadiens made two other signings on Monday. First they announced that goaltender Keith Kinkaid had signed a one-year, one-way contract valued at $1.75 million.

The six-foot-three-inch, 195 pound native of Farmington, NY. appeared in 41 games with the New Jersey Devils last season posting a record of 15-18-6 with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage. On February 25th, Kincaid was traded to Columbus  but did not appear for the Blue Jackets.

In 151 NHL games (all with the Devils) Kinkaid has a 64-55-17 record, with a 2.90 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage, and seven shutouts.

https://twitter.com/Blockaid1/status/1145759969767251969

The Canadiens also signed forward Riley Barber to a one-year, two-way contract. Barber will receive $700,000 at the NHL level and $300,000 in the AHL, with $400,000 in guaranteed salary.

The 25-year-old has played four seasons with the Hershey Bears, the AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals. In 237 games, Barber has registered 90 goals, 90 assists for 180 points.

Barber was selected in the sixth round by the Capitals (167th overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.