Breaking: The Canadiens have threatened an NHL team with a “hostile” offer sheet!

Holy crap things just got very real.

Earlier today we published a report in which we detailed comments made by former Montreal Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraques, comments that pointed to a "hostile" offer sheet coming from the Montreal Canadiens. At the time Laraques did not provide any details regarding what player, or even what type of player, the Canadiens would be targeting with such an offer sheet but we may now have a clearer picture.

According to a stunning report from TSN National Hockey League insider Pierre LeBrun, it now appears that the Habs have openly threatened an NHL franchise with the possibility of using an offer sheet on one of their players. In his comments LeBrun detailed that at least 3 NHL teams have called the Carolina Hurricanes regarding the possibility of signing Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet, and furthermore he revealed that one of those teams was none other than the Montreal Canadiens.

"According to sources, Carolina got calls from 3 different teams today on Sebastian Aho, hinting at an offer sheet," wrote LeBrun on Monday morning. "The 'Canes told them they would match any offer sheet. Carolina did tell them they would entertain trade conversation. Believe that Habs is among 3 teams who called."

That is certainly an extremely interesting development and one that could drastically change the fortunes of any of the franchise potentially looking to acquire Aho, one of the best young players in the NHL. It is unclear what a trade of this nature would look like but I would expect that the team looking to make the deal would not be willing to give up more than what the offer sheet compensation would demand. 

Additionally there have been reports this morning that the Hurricanes and Aho's camp are very far apart in negotiations, with some reports suggesting that the two sides are as much as $2 million dollars apart on average annual value, so it would appear that the Hurricanes actually have very little leverage here. Offer sheets hardly ever get used in the NHL so I remain skeptical of this actually going down, but there is definitely a sense today that it is far more likely than it has been in recent history.