Here’s the tweet from Mark Masters with the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach quote:
Interesting.
Aho, if you haven’t been paying attention, has scored 20 goals and 38 points for Carolina in his NHL rookie campaign. He also had 45 points in 45 games for Karpat in SM-Liiga during his draft+1 year.
The Hurircanes forward has great underlying numbers at 5v5 and is one of Carolina’s best players. His 1.67 P60 at 5v5 puts him near Nylander’s 1.74. Offensively, Nylander gets the edge (and it’s close), but defensively it’s Aho by miles. If you’re looking for a quick comparison player for context on how good Aho is playing look no further than Nylander.