The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Sebastian Aho to an 8 year / $78M contract extension the club announced Wednesday.
The new deal will carry an AAV of $9.75M per season, and will come into effect for the 2024-25 campaign. The 26 year old once again led Carolina in goals in 2022-23, making it six straight years in which he’s accomplished the feat.
Originally drafted 35th overall by the Hurricanes in 2015, Aho has spent the entirety of his 7 year NHL career in Raleigh. With 468 points (218G, 250A) in 520 regular season contests, the Finnish forward has been one of the most reliable offensive contributors for the Canes since he entered the league.
“This is the place I want to play,” Aho said. “Obviously, starting from the front office, the organization has taken huge steps over the course of the last five years and, obviously, we feel like we’re building every year. ‘Roddy’ (Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour) as a head coach, he’s the guy I want to play for, all the teammates around me and, obviously, the amazing fanbase, made it a pretty easy decision for me.”
“Actually, the only choice I had in my mind was to [sign] another contract with the Canes.”
Aho and the Carolina front office have been in discussion regarding an extension for the better part of the last week. General Manager Don Waddell told members of the press on July 20th that a deal was close to being signed.
“Obviously, for us knowing how important Sebastian is for our organization, to get this done and not have to sit on it all year to try to figure out something for the following year, this is it critical for us to get this done this summer and put it behind us,” Waddell said. “Nobody has to worry about it now. We know we have Sebastian the next nine years, so it was goal of ours as an organization to get this done quickly.”
The Hurricanes have been one of the busiest teams this offseason, reworking their roster at every opportunity. In addition to Aho’s extension, they’ve also signed defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Dmitry Orlov, while simultaneously adding Michael Bunting and Brendan Lemieux as well.
Carolina will look to make it 4 division titles in a row when they begin their quest for an elusive Stanley Cup victory this fall.
Photo: Don Bigileone. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.