Is there really any chance the Carolina Hurricanes won’t match the offer sheet their star centre Sebastian Aho signed with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday?



On its face, a five-year contract with an AAV of $8.45 million is very reasonable for a player of Aho’s quality. It could even be described as a team-friendly deal.



But if it were that simple, the Hurricanes would have already come to an agreement similar to the Canadiens’ offer of $42.27 million over five years, one the 21-year-old Aho didn’t hesitate to sign.



“We’ve had good conversations with them but we just weren’t able to get to a place where we were able to agree,” Aho’s agent, Gerry Johannson, said Monday evening. “Maybe we would have in three months, but as of a couple of days ago, or a week ago, or two weeks ago, we weren’t. It left the situation open for Montreal to make a move, and they did.”



Canadiens general...