^ agreed.
The targeting of Aho makes sense. Carolina is not a CASH rich team. The structure of his contract I league minimum salary ($700k) for each of the first two years, with $20M in bonuses over that same period. Gonna be real difficult for Carolina to match.
As for going after Marner, I don’t know what that Mtl’s situation with compensation picks is. Remember, the compensation going back had to be a teams OWN picks - not ones they’ve acquired via trade. I’m not sure Mark has all four of their first round picks? Even still, at the AAV they offered Aho, it’s the third tier down from the top - so one each of a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick.
After losing in the Panarin sweepstakes, Lou brings Anders Lee back to the island.