Hurricanes owner explains why his hostile bid was a peaceful gesture
As the old saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. That's what we tell ourselves when we look at the sequence of events between the Canadiens and the Hurricanes since the summer of 2019, but Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon insists that this is not an act of revenge. Hard to believe!
In an interview with The Athletic, the businessman continues with the same speech saying that it is a succession of events that led the Hurricanes to submit an offer to the former number 15 of the Tricolore.
"We didn't plan on doing this two years ago, or even a month ago," said Dundon. There are always a lot of options to consider depending on the order in which things happen. When that option came up, it worked. But there could be several columns written about the 100 ideas that don't work or that we don't execute."
"If we had rehired Dougie or done 10 other things we tried to do, it wouldn't have come up," Dundon added. But when you're sitting there with a bunch of space under the salary cap that you're not going to be able to use, and you look at your picks - we've analyzed several of them - it just so happens that this is the one that ended up being executed."
It's true that by not putting defenseman Dougie Hamilton under contract, the Canes saved several millions on the payroll. Plus, there was the deal with the Detroit Red Wings involving goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, which saved a few more millions.
However, why would the Hurricanes want to get another center at such a high salary when they already have big names like Aho, Trocheck and Jordan Staal at that position? It doesn't make sense, unless revenge is the idea behind it!
But Dundon doesn't waver from his pitch. "It's very rare that you get into a situation where you can actually get a player (through a hostile bid) because, by definition, there has to be a difference in how people value the player," he argued.
Will the Canes win their bet with KK? That's probably the question many CH fans are asking themselves right now. Imagine if the two teams were to meet in the playoffs this season. It would be quite a series, both on and off the ice!
