What Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho really wants. Hint: It’s a Cup
Sebastian Aho isn’t driven to score goals.
He does not care about being an All-Star, or where he’s ranked among NHL players.
The Carolina Hurricanes center is about winning.
That’s it: winning. He burns to win.
As a 17-year-old playing for Karpat in Finland, he was on the team that won the 2015 Finnish championship. He had the winning goal, on a breakaway in overtime.
That’s the kind of play he could celebrate: scoring a goal that wins for his team. And he came away happier for his teammates than himself.
Aho has always been that way. He was a second-round draft pick by Carolina, which only means some NHL scouting staffs were asleep at the wheel. He came to the Canes determined to play center, proved to Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour that he could, and has put together 10 very good seasons.
And postseasons. His game hasn’t dipped when the important games began. Including this year, he has eight straight postseasons of having 10 or more points.
Noteworthy? He’s the first player in NHL history to do it.
But what Aho wants is a Stanley Cup, not some piece of history that could one day be a playoff footnote. He wants to put his name on the Cup — next to his teammates — and join the Canes’ 2006 team as NHL champions.
Aho and the Canes are one win away. After a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center, the Canes have a 3-2 lead in the series and will go to Las Vegas on Sunday with the chance to clinch the Cup.
“Obviously, tonight was a big win,” Aho said after the game. “But the job is not finished. We’ll rest and recover here, and we’ll be ready for the next game.”
Aho scored a goal, his first of the Cup Final and his first since Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens. It came on a top-shelf beauty that goalie Carter Hart had no chance of stopping, Aho taking Sean Walker’s pass off his right skate and quickly getting off the shot as he skated in.
Jordan Martinook’s forechecking pressure and a puck battle won helped set up Aho for the shot, and he finished for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Aho was swarmed after the goal, his mouthpiece jutting out, by a gang of happy teammates.
“It feels good, obviously,” Aho said after the game. “Of course you try to score every game, every shift, basically.
“But we play for the win here, which feels a lot better.”
Aho didn’t believe the Canes were at their best in the first period of Game 5, an opinion shared by Brind’Amour after the game. The Canes fell behind 1-0 as Vegas scored on the power play but Jordan Staal’s goal on the redirection of a Nikolaj Ehlers pass, made it a 1-1 period.
“I didn’t like our first, to be honest, but I feel like we built a game after that,” Aho said.
Scoring on the power play helped build that game. Andrei Svechnikov picked up a pair of goals for the Canes, who have reeled off power-play goals in four straight games.
“I think we’re working hard for each other,” Aho said of the power-play improvement.
Aho, like everyone on the team, has followed the lead of Staal, who Brind’Amour called — again — the Canes’ “warrior.” Staal wears the “C” as the team captain and Aho repeatedly has said he has learned so much from Staal, a real pro’s pro, in his preparation and play.
There is some belief that when Staal retires, Aho could inherit the “C.” He would be a good choice. Like Staal, he has the respect of his teammates and leadership qualities at age 28.
Like that overtime goal in Finland a decade ago, Aho has a feel for when to step up and deliver. He did Thursday with a game-winning goal.
“I thought he’s played really well,” Brind’Amour said. “Again, the point about getting on the scoresheet, he knows he needs to do that. He’s playing the power play, getting all that time to cash in.
“It doesn’t mean you’re not playing well. And all playoffs he has been playing really well. But, man, if we get that out of him that’s a big bonus for our team.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 5:45 AM with the headline "What Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho really wants. Hint: It’s a Cup."
