After 10 seasons in the NHL, all with the Carolina Hurricanes, Aho became a Stanley Cup champion in 2026, ending a season that saw him win bronze with Team Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he led the team with four goals that were tied for second in the tournament and opening the scoring in Finland's 6-1 win against Team Slovakia to help secure the bronze. He became the fifth player to win the Cup in the same season after winning bronze at an Olympics with NHL participation, following Frantisek Kaberle (2006 Hurricanes), and Pavel Datsyuk, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov (2002 Detroit Red Wings).

During the Cup run, Aho (12 points; five goals, seven assists in 19 games of the '26 Stanley Cup Playoffs) became the fifth player with eight consecutive seasons of at least 10 points in an NHL postseason after Wayne Gretzky (11 from 1981-91), Mark Messier (10 from 1983-92), Brad Marchand (eight from 2018-25) and Bernie Geoffrion (eight from 1953-60). He is the fourth Finland-born player in NHL history with 10 seasons of at least 20 goals, after Teemu Selanne (17), Jari Kurri (13) and Aleksander Barkov (10), and skated for his country at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Carolina's second-round pick (No. 35) in the 2015 NHL Draft joined the League for the 2016-17 season, finishing with 49 points (24 goals, 25 assists). He was the third player in NHL history to begin a season (2018-19) with at least one assist in 12 straight games, joining Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers, 1982-83) and Ken Linseman (Bruins, 1985-86) and passed Ron Francis for the longest season-opening point streak in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history during a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at PNC Arena on Oct. 30, 2018.

He had 83 points in 2018-19 and was named to the All-Star Game for the first time. Aho then helped the Hurricanes reach the Eastern Conference Final with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 15 playoff games.

Aho reached the 60-point mark for the fifth time in his NHL career (67 points; 36 goals, 31 assists) during the 2022-23 season while leading the Hurricanes in goals, short-handed goals (three), shorthanded points (four) and game-winning goals (nine). He scored his 20th Stanley Cup Playoff goal during a 5-2 win against the New York Islanders in Game 4 of the 2023 Eastern Conference First Round to pass Eric Staal for the most in franchise history.

He had 89 points (36 goals, 53 assists) in 78 games in 2023-24. He had 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 11 playoff games, joining Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the third player in NHL history to finish at least tied for his team's scoring lead in each of his first six postseasons.

Aho became a restricted free agent after the season and signed a five-year, $42.27 million offer sheet with the Montreal Canadiens on July 1, 2019. The Hurricanes matched the offer July 7.