Sebastian Aho returned from Finland on Wednesday night after a summer spent being a dad to 4-month-old Vivian, eager to see the new faces around the Carolina Hurricanes.
It has been only a little more than three months since Aho challenged the team to do a better job this offseason in the wake of the five-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the conference finals, and in that time the Hurricanes made two huge moves to add two-way defenseman K’Andre Miller and skilled winger Nikolaj Ehlers while moving on from Brent Burns and Dmitri Orlov, among others.
So when Aho skated informally with his teammates — mostly old ones, since Miller and Ehlers have yet to arrive — for the first time at Invisalign Arena on Thursday, he had a different perspective on things than a year earlier.
“It gives a little confidence boost in the room for sure,” Aho told The News & Observer. “It doesn’t really guarantee anything, but the mentality of trying to get over the hump — well, it’s definitely in the room, but obviously the organization, the team, showed it too.”
In May, Aho left no doubt where he stood, revealing he was “disappointed” with last summer’s dealings and setting out a challenge for owner Tom Dundon and general manager Eric Tulsky: “Everyone keeps saying we have a lot of cap space and we have assets. Hopefully we are able to take the next step in that department, too.”
Canes’ Sebastian Aho, frustrated, challenges front office: Get us more talent
There’s no question that Aho’s feelings were influenced by lingering dissatisfaction over the departures of longtime franchise stalwarts Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Teuvo Teravainen before the season, and even 82 games and three playoff rounds wasn’t enough time for that to fade. He wasn’t the only player frustrated to see all three go, or by the failure to sign trade-deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel.
But the Hurricanes swung for the fences during the season with the Mikko Rantanen trade, even if it didn’t work out quite as planned, and used a big chunk of that cap space and some of those assets to fill two big holes in July by trading for Miller, an elite defenseman whose career had plateaued with the New York Rangers, and signing Ehlers, the top free-agent forward on the market after Mitch Marner signed with the Vegas Golden Knights. Less heralded, but just as needed in his own way, was veteran free-agent depth defenseman Mike Reilly.
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Those were the kind of impact additions Aho wanted to see from the Hurricanes — acknowledging that it’s hard for a team as good as the Hurricanes have been to improve, but you have to at least take a hack.
“We’ll see if we got better, but that’s my point, you’re willing to try and do those things,” Aho said. “Trading for a guy like Miller, I think he’s going to fit perfectly into our lineup. And Ehlers is a gamer. We need that type of guy, especially down the stretch.”
They still have another $10 million in cap space should the opportunity arise to make a move during the season, which means they may not be done yet. But for now, with the opener a month away, there’s at least reason for optimism that perhaps was lacking a year earlier in Aho’s mind.
“As a player that’s all you can ask from the organization, try to get better,” Aho said. “We’ve been a good team for a few years now, but just willing to try to get better. Obviously, it’s hockey and it doesn’t guarantee anything, getting different players and changing personnel. I mean, we still have pretty much the same team. But two great additions in my opinion, and that’s good.”
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