About Last Season: Sebastian Aho Performance Review and Grade

Sebastian Aho: 2016-17 By The Numbers

• Age: 19
• NHL Seasons: 1
• Games Played: 82 (!)
• Scoring: 24g—25a—49pts
• Ice Time: 16:47 all situations, 14:21 ES, 2:13 PP, 0:13 PK
• 5-on-5 Stats: 53.26% CF, 49.4% GF
• Contract Status: Completed 1st year of three-year entry-level contract (cap hit $925,000)

Making the Grade

About Last Season

Jamie Kellner

Canes Country’s player-by-player review and grades for the 2016-17 season.

• April 13: Sebastian Aho
• April 14: Klas Dahlbeck
• April 15: Patrick Brown
• April 17: Phil Di Giuseppe
• April 18: Justin Faulk
• April 19: Brett Pesce
• April 20: Victor Rask
• April 21: Elias Lindholm
• April 24: Eddie Lack
• April 25: Brock McGinn and Jay McClement
• April 26: Andrej Nestrasil and Joakim Nordstrom
• April 27: Noah Hanifin
• April 28: Ryan Murphy
• May 1: Derek Ryan
• May 2: Jeff Skinner
• May 3: Jaccob Slavin
• May 4: Jordan Staal
• May 5: Lee Stempniak
• May 8: Matt Tennyson
• May 9: Teuvo Teravainen
• May 10: Cam Ward
• May 11: Others receiving votes
• May 12: Coaching staff and front office

Aho’s reputation as an offensive weapon in Finland and various international tournaments had Hurricanes fans highly anticipating his arrival, and he did just about all he could to live up to the #AhoHypeTrain. The expected learning curve certainly hit at the outset of the year as he failed to score in his first 14 games, but Aho ended up second in scoring (49 pts) to a career-high-tying point total set by Jeff Skinner (63). Aho’s 24 goals and 25 assists show a balanced attack from the young Finn, and his production is well on its way to challenging Skinner for the team lead.

Aho’s limited shortcomings stemmed from a lack of consistency, as did several of his teammates’. Like most rookies, he ran into hot and cold streaks throughout the year as he continued to adjust to life in the NHL. And though he had a tendency to score in bunches, those bunches often came in single games. Multi-point games are a fine trend for Aho to be on, but the key for him going forward will be to carry out his strong production more often throughout the year.

But even with his streakiness, it’s hard to call Aho’s year anything but a success. He finished 5th in rookie scoring behind Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner, and led the Hurricanes in power play points with 17. He didn’t set the world on fire as a rookie, but Aho has already laid the groundwork for fantastic NHL career.

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