It'd Be Cool to Watch Aho Become the Franchise Points Leader in Real Time

The Cup's won. Twenty years of waiting, over. Great! Besides another cup, what else am I excited about this core accomplishing?

I've been kicking this around since June and I think I landed on it: I want to watch Sebastian Aho climb the franchise scoring list and end up on top. Not because it's some noble thing. Just because it'd be fun to actually be there for it.

Most records you find out about after the fact. Somebody posts a graphic, you go "huh, neat," and you move on. This one you can watch happen. Sixty, seventy points a year, for six more years, and one night in like 2031 he gets an assist in the second period of a Tuesday game against Columbus and that's it, he's the guy.

I'd like to have that on in the background while I fold laundry.

What it takes

Ron Francis has 1,175 points for this franchise. He's the only guy who ever got to a thousand, and it took him ten years in Hartford and six in Carolina.

Aho finished last year around 711. So he needs about 464.

He's signed through 2032, which is six more seasons. That's 77 a year.

His last three: 89, 74, 80.

So... yeah. That's just him doing what he already does, for six more years, without getting hurt. Which is not nothing — guys fall off, knees go, whatever. But it's not a fantasy either. You can look at that math and go "okay, that could actually happen."

The Whalers thing

Here's where it gets annoying. There are two versions of this record.

If you count Hartford, it's Francis at 1,175 and Aho's got a real climb. If you only count Carolina, it's Eric Staal at 775 and Aho passes him in a season and a half. Barely worth watching.

I think Hartford counts. Same franchise, the record book says so, and we only ever pretend the Whalers didn't exist when it's convenient. Francis played 1,186 games for this organization.

Also — and this is the part I like — Francis is the guy who drafted Aho. Second round, 2015, when he was running the front office. So the record Aho would break belongs to the guy who found him.

That's a good story. I'd watch that.

He's already got most of the others

Playoff points, he's the franchise leader. 85 in 89 games. Second is Svechnikov at 48, which isn't really second place so much as a different conversation.

Game-winners, he passed Francis in 2024. Short-handed goals, overtime winners, same thing. Brind'Amour said back then that Aho was going to lead this franchise in everything eventually and that he should. Rod doesn't hand out compliments like that.

Points is the last big one. And it's the only one where he can't just have a hot season and get it. He has to keep showing up for six years.

Why this one

He's been here the whole time. Drafted 2015, up in 2016, never wore anything else. He was here for the bad stretch, the Storm Surge stuff, all three conference finals we lost, and then June. Nobody in a Canes sweater waited longer for it.

And he's never really been a national guy. He's not on the intro montages. He's put up 70-plus almost every year for a decade and if you asked people outside Raleigh to rank centers his age he's coming in fifth or sixth. Fine by me, honestly.

But rosters turn over and coaches leave and the top of the franchise scoring list just sits there. If Aho gets it, some kid in 2045 looks up who the best Hurricane ever was and finds a guy who never played anywhere else.

Anyway

He'd need to stay healthy — 470-ish more games, so basically don't miss much. He turned 29 last week. Probably needs one more contract after this one, a couple of 60-point years in his mid-30s to close it out.

He might not get there. That's fine, he's still the best player who's ever put on this jersey.

But it'd be cool. That's all. It'd be cool to get to watch it.