Carolina Hurricanes star forward, Sebastian Aho, is one of the NHL's best and brightest players.
He's leading the team in both goals (19) and points (57) and is counted on in all situations.
Aho represented Carolina at the All-Star Weekend earlier this month and was was also on stage as the NHL announced the return to the Olympics as well as the introduction of the '4-Nation Faceoff,' a mid-season, international tournament.
The Hockey News sat down with Aho to discuss his thoughts on the All-Star events as well as his excitement about potentially being an Olympian.
How was the All-Star Weekend?
It was quite busy. Three days there for just 20 minutes of hockey was kind of a bummer, but I got to see and do a lot of cool stuff. It was all good, just the hockey part kind of sucked, to be honest. Three days for 20 minutes of hockey wasn't exactly what I was hoping to get out of that weekend, but it was good though.
How did you feel about not getting chance to compete in the skills competition?
Honestly, the whole event is for the fans. I haven't heard the feedback yet because I don't follow it. Obviously, if the fans loved it, then it's good, but at the same time... I don't know. There are guys that spent their off-days there doing nothing. You hoped that you could of at least had the chance to be a part of it or win the whole thing. They bumped up the prize too so that was another motivator to make players try harder at the skills, but I don't know how much different it is from the old format.
What were you doing during the skills competition?
I was at the rink for most of it. Just hanging out and obviously it's Toronto so there's a lot of media, interviews and stuff like that going on all the time. It was kind of a PR day for me, but it was all good.
You got to spend at least a few days off before the All-Star Weekend, right?
The break started late Saturday so I flew out [to Mexico] Sunday morning, then took a late night flight Wednesday to fly into Toronto. So I got three or four days to get some rest.
What are your thoughts on the NHL's return to the Olympics and the announcement of the 4-Nation Faceoff?
The Olympics has been a dream of mine for a long time. That's obviously something I'm really looking forward to. The 4-Nation tournament is exciting too, but it's the Olympics for me that really, really stands out. I haven't had the chance to play in any of those events. That's been a big, big dream of mine growing up and watching the Finnish National Team playing. That was kind of my ultimate goal: winning Olympic gold. Obviously now, winning a Stanley Cup is my biggest dream, but having an Olympic gold would still be something. Having the chance to compete there, best-on-best, we haven't seen that for many years in hockey, so I think it's very exciting for the fans too.
Who would be on your dream line at the Olympics?
Oh I don't know. I got asked this a bunch of times, but there are a lot of guys. [Mikko] Rantanen is one of those guys that I know well. He's a great buddy of mine so I think he'd be a fun guy to play with. Obviously there's [Aleksander] Barkov, [Roope] Hintz, [Teuvo Teravainen], [Patrik] Laine. There's a lot of really, really good players and I'm probably forgetting someone as I name drop these guys, but obviously there's going to be a lot of good players on that team and the best part is that we're all really close and everyone knows each other so I think it's going to be something special.
You haven't had the chance to represent Suomi since 2018, correct?
Yeah, the World Championship after my second year here. So it was five or six years ago.
While this is obviously big news for the Finnish players, this also has to be a huge deal for the Finnish people too?
That's Finland in a nutshell. Everyone loves hockey and it's just big. Every year in the World Championships, people gather together to watch hockey and it's just such a big deal and the Olympics is at a whole other level. It's always been such a big deal in Finland and growing up, it was such a big deal for myself too. Watching my idols playing on the Finnish National Team and now maybe having the chance to go now and be one of those guys for the little kids back home, it's pretty awesome.
Who was your biggest idol growing up?
I had many. As a little kid, my dad, [Harri Aho], was my biggest idol, watching him play. Then growing up, probably guys like [Teemu] Selanne. And then as a teenager, it kind of switched to Patrick Kane and Pavel Datsyuk. It kind of has changed over the years, but in terms of Finnish players, there was just so many guys I looked up to. I've gotta say Selanne though because he was a superstar-caliber guy, but there was many guys that I enjoyed watching.
Were you one of those kids that had posters all over your walls?
I never had that, but I always knew what was going on with the Finnish players in the NHL. I always loved hockey and watching it, so I knew what was happening around the hockey world.