The Carolina Hurricanes have consistently been one of the best teams in the NHL over the last several years. Seven consecutive playoff appearances, all of which they won a round, though unable to get past the Eastern Conference Finals.
It was more of the same in 2025, losing their third-round series in five games to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. As the Canes look to push through that barrier, management was aggressive this offseason, trading for defenseman K’Andre Miller and signing top UFA forward Nikolaj Ehlers to boost the roster.
Star center Sebastian Aho remains confident in his team and believes that these major additions will help them in a big way for years to come. He recently spoke about what it’s going to take to actually follow through and win a Stanley Cup in Carolina during an interview with SiriusXM NHL Network Radio.
“Yeah, obviously it takes us to play our best hockey at the right time, for sure. Having said that, I think we had a good offseason going; we added a couple of guys to the roster that I know are gonna help us for sure already,” Aho said.
“Obviously you gotta believe that you’ll be able to do that when the time comes next year. Obviously we haven’t lost to a bad team; only one team has beaten Florida in the past three seasons. So they’ve been the standard the past few years, and they seem to be the team to beat. You try to learn from what you’ve been through and also use that as fuel to motivate yourself,” Aho added.
Sebastian Aho of @Canes joined @TheFourthPeriod & @DennisTFP at the NHL European Player Media Tour
Full interview:
🎧https://t.co/4qgZ8pnnnn pic.twitter.com/1L0tECgLMi— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) August 27, 2025
The 28-year-old is coming off another productive season where he racked up 29 goals and 45 assists for 74 points in 79 games.
Aho has shown up when it matters
While the Carolina Hurricanes are understandably frustrated with their lack of success in the latter half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sebastian Aho is not one to blame for those shortcomings.
Aho has racked up double-digit points in all seven of his postseason runs, totaling 85 points (34 goals, 51 assists) in 89 career playoff games.
The Finnish star has proven that he can perform when the lights shine brightest, but he’ll need more of his teammates to elevate their play in a similar fashion when the time comes in the years ahead.
