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Mikko Rantanen

Hurricanes, Leafs Couldn’t Agree On Swap Of Mikko Rantanen And Mitch Marner

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The fallout from the Trade Deadline is starting to settle, revealing more about the Carolina Hurricanes attempt to flip star winger Mikko Rantanen. The Dallas Stars ultimately won the sweepstakes, landing Rantanen and an eight-year extension in exchange for top young forward Logan Stankoven, two first round picks, and two third round picks. But Carolina had multiple other fish on the line, including getting well down the path to send Rantanen to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The deal ultimately fell apart because Toronto wasn’t willing to send winger Mitch Marner back the other way, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Like Rantanen before he signed in Dallas, Marner is a pending free agent who’s likely to demand a serious payday when he hits the open market. But Marner wasn’t willing to discuss an extension mid-season, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic. A long-term commitment was a prerequisite for the Hurricanes, leading to Toronto’s big splash falling to land. Johnston adds that the deal officially fell apart when Marner refused to waive his full no-movement clause.

Without Marner involved, Toronto’s final offer is said to have been top prospects Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan, and two first round picks per Nick Kypreos on Sportsnet 590. When that package was turned down, Toronto opted to instead send Minten, a first-round pick, and a fourth-round to the Boston Bruins for top defenseman Brandon Carlo. Carlo is under contract through the 2026-27 season at a manageable $3.625MM cap hit, after Boston retained 15 percent in the trade.

The implications of this deal would have been transformative. Marner has been deeply engrained on Toronto’s top line since making his NHL debut in 2016-17. He scored 61 points in 77 games as a rookie, and two seasons later scratched the century mark with 94 points in 82 games. Injuries and a shortened season held Marner to just 67 points in the next two seasons, but he found new heights when the NHL returned to full after the pandemic. Marner scored 35 goals and 97 points in 2021-22 and topped it with 99 points in 2022-23. Two years later, he’s on pace to confidently clear the 100-point mark this season, with 77 points in 61 games so far.

Marner would have certainly matched with Carolina’s top-end. He plays a high-skill, downhill style that could have fit well between the aggressive forechecking of Seth Jarvis and poised playmaking of Sebastian Aho. Instead, Carolina lands 22-year-old Stankoven to fill that role, after the latter scored 29 points in 59 games with Dallas. Stankoven brings a wave of hard-working grit and future stability to a Hurricanes program that’s earned a confident playoff spot in each of the last six seasons.

Through the thick of what could have been, Marner has doubled down on his commitment to the Leafs with this news. Presented with a chance for a short-term trip to Carolina before entering free agency, Marner has instead decided to hold true to the blue-and-white. He is set to enter unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career this summer, and has emphasized his desire to save contract talks for after the season. With plenty of time before Toronto plays their last games, Leafs fans can stand by this bode of confidence as an indication that Marner could be looking to stick around for even longer.

Stars Acquire, Extend Mikko Rantanen On Max-Term Deal

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4:00 p.m.: Official now, Rantanen is a Star. The deal is accurate as reported aside from the 2027 first-round pick being a 2028 selection instead. Both first-rounders are top 10 protected.

12:55 p.m.: The Stars placed defenseman Miro Heiskanen on long-term injured reserve today, per PuckPedia. The move opens up some additional cap flexibility with the Rantanen pickup and still leaves them with roughly $10MM in flexibility to add another asset before the deadline, assuming the move indicates Heiskanen is done for the regular season following knee surgery early last month. Additionally, Seravalli reports Rantanen receives a full no-movement clause in his contract.

11:31 a.m.: The Stars will get an extension done for winger Mikko Rantanen and acquire him in a blockbuster deal with the Hurricanes. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, it’ll be an eight-year contract worth $96MM, worth a cap hit of $12MM. Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff reports Dallas is sending rookie forward Logan Stankoven and a pair of first-rounders to Carolina in return. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirms the picks are the Stars’ own 2026 and 2027 selections, leaving Dallas without a first-round pick until 2028. The Hurricanes are also receiving a pair of third-round picks in the deal, per Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Those picks are also Dallas’ 2026 and 2027 selections, per Seravalli.

Dallas thus holds firm at their initial offer to the superstar winger, who will now be traded twice in under two months. Darren Dreger of TSN reported earlier today the $96MM offer was “well short” of what Rantanen would accept to get a deal to the Stars across the finish line. However, he’ll take the under-market value deal to join the league’s deepest offense in Dallas.

Rantanen notably accepts a lesser extension than what Carolina offered him: an eight-year contract worth at least $100MM in total with a $12.5MM AAV. He’ll likely earn more in take-home pay in a lower-tax state in Texas, but it’s still clear Dallas was a preferable long-term destination for the Finnish star.

The 28-year-old finds his long-term home in the same division as his longtime home in Colorado, where he was coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons before failed extension discussions with the Avs precipitated his move to Carolina in January. Colorado’s best offer on an eight-year deal reportedly fell in the $11MM range, so he’s getting more before-tax dollars by meandering his way toward his former Central Division rival.

Rantanen’s reputation needs no introduction, especially since the scale of a player of his caliber moving mid-season was covered extensively when he was traded to the Canes. The 2015 10th overall pick and 2022 Stanley Cup champion with the Avs has produced well over a point per game over his 10-year career, including a raucous 371 points in 299 games since the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign. On a per-game basis, only Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrňák, and Mitch Marner have scored more over the past decade among right wings.

Despite keeping up his production in Colorado whenever he was briefly separated from franchise center Nathan MacKinnon, he simply didn’t click alongside Sebastian Aho during his short stint in Raleigh. Rantanen managed just 2-4–6 in 13 games for the Canes, shooting at 5% and averaging under 20 minutes per game for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign. His possession impacts were expectedly sterling, posting a 64.1 CF% at even strength, but it just didn’t translate to the point totals he’s used to producing.

Rantanen should immediately slot in as Dallas’ first-line right winger alongside Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, filling the hole vacated by Joe Pavelski when he retired last offseason. They’ve rotated multiple players in that role throughout the season, including Stankoven, while also elevating Evgenii Dadonov and Wyatt Johnston from their usual third-line homes at times to ride shotgun. That instability will end with the Robertson-Hintz duo receiving their most talented complement yet out of an already fairly strong group over the course of their careers.

Carolina has now remained unable to upgrade their top-six throughout the year, taking a winding road from Martin Nečas to Rantanen to now, presumptively, the 22-year-old Stankoven getting an extended run in first or second-line minutes barring a subsequent trade. They will open up roughly $3.8MM in cap space in the trade, assuming no other roster players are involved.

Stankoven is a significant loss for the Stars in this deal off their active roster. After performing well in a late-season call-up last year, he’s posted 9-20–29 in 59 showings for Dallas in 2024-25 while averaging north of 15 minutes per game. Selected 47th overall in 2021, he’s already outperforming his draft billing. He’s a significant injection to a Hurricanes pool of U-23 players that already ranks among the strongest in the league. Dallas, though, determined him expendable to land a top-line talent with names like Johnston and Mavrik Bourque still in the system as current and likely future top-six threats.

It would make sense for the Canes to flip one of the first-rounders they’ve acquired for a big-fish forward in the next few hours. They already had their entire arsenal of firsts over the next few years, a significant excess for a team in a playoff contention window.

When Rantanen’s extension is registered, the Stars will be down to $13.8MM in cap space for next season with eight open roster spots. That’s not nearly enough cash to re-sign all of their pending free agents, a list that includes Johnston on the restricted front and top-nine forwards Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, and Dadonov as unrestricted assets. It’s likely only one of that group will be returning next season unless they trade away a salary currently on the books for 2025-26.

Nonetheless, Rantanen’s $12MM AAV currently makes him the fifth-highest-paid player in the league next season behind Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and his former teammate in MacKinnon. He will remain in a Stars uniform through the 2032-33 season and will be 36 years old when his contract expires.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Stars “Well Short” On Extension Offer For Mikko Rantanen

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Late last night, the biggest domino yet to fall at the deadline saw movement. Multiple reports indicate the Hurricanes and Stars have agreed on the framework of a deal to send star winger Mikko Rantanen to Dallas just weeks after Carolina paid a premium to acquire him from the Avalanche, but it’s contingent on Rantanen and the Stars being in agreement on an extension to keep the pending UFA around past this season.

Progress on that front is minimal, significantly limiting the likelihood of the trade getting across the finish line. Darren Dreger of TSN reports the Stars have offered Rantanen a long-term deal worth upward of $12MM per season, but that’s “well short” of the player’s ask.

The Hurricanes’ efforts to extend Rantanen were similarly unproductive, sparking intense trade discussion this week to avoid losing him for nothing this summer. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said last month they’d submitted an eight-year offer to Rantanen with a total value of at least $100MM, translating to an AAV of at least $12.5MM, but that he was unwilling to commit to the Carolina market.

Financials may not have been the principal issue with the Canes’ offer, but it does appear to be the issue with Dallas. Trade talks likely wouldn’t have advanced this far if Rantanen was generally disinterested in an extension with the Stars, so there’s presumably a price point at which Dallas can get this done without vastly overpaying on his market value. Whether the Stars, who need to conserve space for an extension for pending RFA Wyatt Johnston and potentially retaining captain Jamie Benn past this year, are willing to go much higher than their initial offer remains to be seen. Leading scorer Matt Duchene is also a pending UFA.

Dallas currently has $25.8MM in projected cap space for 2025-26 with nine open roster spots, per PuckPedia. An extension for Rantanen in the $13MM range annually, which is looking more like his demand, would leave the Stars with around $12.5MM in space for eight players, with Johnston likely to take at least 65-70% of that on his own. It’s not a feasible pickup for the Stars unless they’re willing to make some tough decisions about letting core pieces reach the open market or trading players with term off their roster.

Even if a Rantanen deal falls through, it’s hard to imagine Dallas is done for the day. They’ve still got holes at right defense that need filling, currently rolling out a trio of Cody Ceci, Mathew Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin while Miro Heiskanen is sidelined. For now, they’ve got a good deal of cap flexibility to accomplish it with Tyler Seguin and Nils Lundkvist on LTIR, both of whom are either likely or confirmed to be done for the regular season.

Stars Working On Acquiring Mikko Rantanen, Extension Talks Underway

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6:55 a.m.: As of yet, a deal is not done, cautions TSN’s Darren Dreger.  Unless the two sides can agree on an extension, Carolina may have to consider other options.  Discussions about an extension are expected to resume this morning, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli adds.

6:17 a.m.: The Hurricanes and Stars have agreed on a deal to send Rantanen to Dallas in principle, Friedman reports, but it’s contingent on an extension being agreed to or extremely close. As of early Friday morning, that hasn’t happened yet.

12:18 a.m.: The eve of the Trade Deadline has turned into a thriller. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, The Dallas Stars are working to land superstar winger Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes. News of this move comes just over an hour after division rival Colorado Avalanche acquired Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders.

This was certainly the move many were waiting for at this year’s deadline. Rantanen will leave the Carolina organization after just 13 games with the club. The Hurricanes traded top winger Martin Necas, young NHL center Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and 2026 fourth-round pick to the Avalanche in exchange for Rantanen in late January. The move came suddenly, and speculation that Rantanen wouldn’t sign the extension Carolina hoped for quickly formed. With a quick-forming impasse, Carolina has opted to flip Rantanen before their chance ran out.

Trade details haven’t yet been revealed, but the return will need to be expansive for a player of Rantanen’s caliber. He scored 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games with Colorado before his first trade. That’s an incredible 82-game pace of 41 goals and 107 points, which would have been well in line with Rantanen’s performances over the last two seasons. He was a star after just two seasons in the NHL, posting 84 points in his sophomore season. But Rantanen became a superstar in 2021-22, when he recorded 92 points in a full regular season then added 25 points in 20 games on Colorado’s Stanley Cup run. He followed it with a career-high 55 goals and 105 points in 2022-23. Even better, he showed he could do it again with 104 points last year.

Rantanen is a star – and became the preferred battery mate for Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon. Now, Rantanen will face the incredibly difficult task of playing across from MacKinnon as Dallas and Colorado battle for playoff standing. Both teams seem well on their way to a postseason berth, and stand as constant threats to make a late run once they make it to the playoffs.

Dallas will certainly part with key stars in the acquisition of a multi-time 100-point scorer. But Rantanen will inevitably join a loaded offense in Texas. The Stars rank fourth in the NHL in goals-per-game (3.40) – two spots ahead of the Colorado Avalanche (3.30). Their offense is led by top shooter Jason Robertson with 27 goals and 64 points in 62 games. Robertson is backed by Matt Duchene (63 points), Wyatt Johnston (59), and Roope Hintz (52). The Stars have dazzling young stars like Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque – the former a proven hot commodity and the later one of the youngest AHL MVPs of the 2000s. Neither has managed top scoring this season, which could help Dallas move on from a high-value item without hindering their top-echelon offense.

The cap implications of this move are sure to be interesting. Rantanen carries a reduced $4.625MM cap hit through the end of the season, after Colorado retained 50 percent on the original trade. That’s just narrowly more than Dallas can afford with their $4.60MM projected cap space. That could necessitate additional cap exchange in this swap. It will undoubtedly be an exciting trade – one that Friedman shares could unfold through the depths of the night.

Maple Leafs, Stars, Kings, Golden Knights, Panthers Calling On Mikko Rantanen

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9:44 a.m.: Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic adds the Golden Knights and Panthers as teams who have made legitimate pitches for Rantanen in the last 24 hours, also moving the player to the top of his pre-deadline board. Vegas would need retention on Carolina’s part to get a deal done with $2.4MM in deadline cap space, with the Hurricanes likely targeting someone like 24-goal man Pavel Dorofeyev as part of the return. Florida wouldn’t need retention after placing Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR for what’s expected to be the remainder of the regular season, and might need to surrender top forward prospect Mackie Samoskevich to get it done. He’s recently been elevated to a top-six role in Tkachuk’s absence.

8:10 a.m.: The Maple Leafs, Stars, and Kings are three teams expressing high levels of interest in star right-winger Mikko Rantanen, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes. After reports first surfaced last month that the Hurricanes could flip Rantanen after acquiring him from the Avalanche in a January blockbuster if extension talks weren’t productive, Carolina has “opened the door” on trade talks late this week, Friedman said. There’s a long list of teams to display interest so far – including the Devils, James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now said Tuesday.

It remains to be seen how willing the Hurricanes are to move Rantanen, who will likely need to agree in principle to an extension with his new club for them to land the return they desire. Carolina isn’t a seller in any capacity – they’re nine points ahead of the playoff line and have a 99.6% chance at a playoff berth, per MoneyPuck – so they’re presumably not interested in futures as the primary value in a return.

The 6’4″ Finn hasn’t been what the Hurricanes expected when they surrendered Martin Nečas, Jack Drury, and three draft picks to acquire him and Taylor Hall in a three-team deal with the Blackhawks six weeks ago. Despite spending most of his time in the lineup stapled to star countryman Sebastian Aho’s wing as expected, he’s scored just 2-4–6 through 12 games in Carolina with a minus-two rating.

Rantanen’s brief but underwhelming showing outside of Colorado, where he’d torched the league for 1.28 points per game since 2020, will weigh on teams’ minds as they debate how many resources they’ll commit to acquiring and extending him. With an eight-year deal, he’s virtually guaranteed to become one of the four highest-paid players in the league, surpassing Oilers star Connor McDavid’s $12.5MM AAV and likely even former teammate Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6MM cap hit. AFP Analytics even projects an eight-year extension for Rantanen to cost $13.65MM per season, approaching $110MM in total value and making him the second-highest paid player in the league next season behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who’ll be kicking off a mega-extension with a $14MM cap hit.

While there will surely be NHL players coming off the acquiring teams’ roster in a Rantanen return, the Maple Leafs are the only one of the above group who would need to make a money-in, money-out deal. Carolina, who has Rantanen on their books for $4.625MM against the cap after Chicago retained half his salary in January’s trade, can make him a $2.3MM player by retaining an additional 50%. That wouldn’t require additional shuffling on the Stars’ or Kings’ end.

Carolina will need an immediate replacement at wing in the deal. While it’s likely to be a downgrade in terms of overall reputation, they’ll still be asking for a bona fide top-six piece with other assets in the deal to make up the difference in trade value. For Toronto, that could mean parting ways with pending RFA Matthew Knies, shifting William Nylander to the left wing to replace him and casting Rantanen and Mitch Marner as their top two right wingers. Another bottom-six depth piece, potentially Calle Järnkrok, could also be out the door to help the Hurricanes replace the void left by William Carrier when he underwent lower-body surgery in late January.

The Kings have made their desire for a right-handed scorer public over the last few weeks and will pivot to second-line type names like the Islanders’ Kyle Palmieri if their efforts to land Rantanen are futile. Carolina likely demands someone like Trevor Moore in return, who erupted for 31 goals last year but has just 12 in 51 games this year. Breakout 23-year-old Alex Laferriere, who’s posted 15-16–31 in 56 games, is also an option as a centerpiece, but would require more additional assets from L.A. than Toronto would need to provide on top of the more highly-touted Knies.

Dallas, who’s already added Mikael Granlund to their forward group, has more appealing NHL-ready young talent to offer than their Western Conference rival. Either 2024 AHL MVP turned NHL full-timer Mavrik Bourque or 22-year-old Logan Stankoven could immediately slot into the Canes’ top-nine (or top-six, in Stankoven’s case), and are more in Knies’ territory in terms of long-term offensive ceiling than Laferriere and Moore.

New Jersey Devils Have Expressed Interest In Mikko Rantanen

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Per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, the New Jersey Devils have expressed interest in Carolina Hurricanes’ winger, Mikko Rantanen. Nichols added that their interest wholly depends on Jack Hughes’ status, but it’s an interesting development nonetheless.

Despite rumored interest from the Devils, it doesn’t appear as a likely hypothetical landing spot. Carolina and New Jersey would play in the first round of the postseason if the season ended today, and neither is expected to catch up to the red-hot Washington Capitals. Theoretically, the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers are within striking distance of a divisional playoff spot, although it’s not all that likely.

Meanwhile, the Devils and Hurricanes don’t have a long history of trading with each other. Since the 2019-20 season, the pair have connected on two trades, the first being the deal sending defenseman Sami Vatanen to Carolina in 2020 and the other being a minor league swap of Zack Hayes and Jonathan Dugan in 2023.

Still, it’s hard to dislike Rantanen’s fit in the Devils lineup if the purported interest is accurate. Despite their need for a third-line center, Rantanen would objectively prove a massive upgrade over Ondřej Palát or Dawson Mercer in New Jersey’s top six. Rantanen has more points this season alone than Palát and Mercer combined. Although he doesn’t register many body checks, Rantanen is a physical forward who can put the puck in the net, which would benefit New Jersey’s 14th-ranked offense in terms of GF/G.

Unless the Hurricanes believe they have no realistic opportunity to win the Stanley Cup this season, it’s difficult to imagine a trade of this magnitude happening between the organizations. Even if the Devils maximize their cap space by placing Hughes on their long-term injured reserve, and they’re able to put together a compelling offer, it would make little sense for Carolina to improve a team they’re likely to face in the playoffs.

Poll: Will The Hurricanes Trade Mikko Rantanen?

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One of the biggest storylines heading into trade deadline week is the potential availability of Carolina Hurricanes’ winger, Mikko Rantanen. The Finnish star has already been traded once this year, going from Denver to Raleigh for Martin Nečas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick. However, a lack of extension with the Hurricanes this close to the deadline has some insiders believing Carolina will look to move him again rather than lose him for nothing in the offseason.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman threw fuel on the fire last Saturday. Friedman suggested on his weekly segment Saturday Headlines the Hurricanes have offered Rantanen an eight-year, $100MM+ extension, which would make him the eighth player in NHL history to sign a nine-figure deal. Still, due to the emotions of being traded away from the only organization he’s known for the last decade, Rantanen hasn’t decided on an extension with Carolina. Friedman emphasized that it doesn’t indicate Rantanen is leaning either way, but it does put the Hurricanes’ front office on a time crunch.

To update the situation further, TSN’s Darren Dreger touched on Rantanen’s status on TSN’s Ottawa 1200 yesterday evening (beginning around the 10:30 mark of the broadcast). Dreger mentions that owner Tom Dundon, a hands-on owner, relatively speaking, is having difficulty considering a Rantanen trade given what they parted with to acquire him. Still, Dreger is confused, like many analysts, about why Carolina made the trade in the first place if they weren’t fully convinced Rantanen would sign an extension. Additionally, the TSN insider doesn’t believe Rantanen is enjoying his time with the Hurricanes.

There’s on-ice data to support that claim. The former 100-point scorer with the Colorado Avalanche has posted one goal and two assists through his first eight games with Carolina, averaging 20:10 of ice time per game. His shooting percentage has dropped to 4.0%, which is exceptionally low considering his career track record. Rantanan simply hasn’t looked fully engaged as a Hurricane, and the team has suffered for it, posting a 2-5-1 record with him in the lineup.

Unfortunately for Carolina, the team will have difficulty acquiring a package similar to the one they sent to Colorado. Most contending teams will consider Rantanan a rental at this stage, which will decrease what they’re willing to part with to obtain him.

For potential suitors, we can reasonably assume he won’t wear another team’s jersey in the Metropolitan Division this season. The Hurricanes are looking for their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 2006, and they’ll have to go through one or two teams in their division due to the current playoff formatting. Furthermore, as good as Rantanen’s fit would be with any of the three-headed monsters in the Atlantic Division (Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Toronto Maple Leafs), it’s hard to imagine Carolina helping a team they might have to play for a Stanley Cup Final berth.

That should isolate Rantanen’s potential market to Western Conference teams only. The Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights are clear suitors, with the Edmonton Oilers also being a team to watch out for. Edmonton has a larger need for a defenseman, but they could afford Rantanen’s remaining deal should Evander Kane spend the remainder of the regular season on long-term injured reserve. Despite the need for a defenseman, few teams in the West could compete against a top line of Rantanen, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl.

Should a team like the Chicago Blackhawks or San Jose Sharks believe they can sign Rantanen to a big-ticket extension, they may be willing to pay the premium. Chicago and San Jose could easily wait until July 1st to sign Rantanen without parting with any assets, but the potential of an eighth year in his contract might entice them.

The Hurricanes are caught between a rock and a hard place. Will they keep Rantanen for a shot at the Stanley Cup, or will they recoup some assets for him rather than lose him for nothing in the summer? Vote below!

Will The Hurricanes Trade Mikko Rantanen?
Yes, they'll want to recoup some assets while they can. 50.72% (600 votes)
No, he gives them the best shot at winning the Cup. 49.28% (583 votes)
Total Votes: 1,183

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Latest On Mikko Rantanen Extension Negotiations

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In last night’s rendition of ’Saturday Headlines’ with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the NHL insider provided an important update on the ongoing extension negotiations between the Carolina Hurricanes and Mikko Rantanen.

Friedman shared that the Hurricanes’ front office met with Rantanen’s representatives during the 4 Nations Face-Off break to discuss where both sides were on a potential extension. Carolina has put a firm offer on the table and Friedman believes the total salary is in the nine figures. Rantanen would become the eighth player in NHL history to sign a deal worth $100MM or more joining Alex Ovechkin, Leon Draisaitl, Shea Weber, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Ilya Kovalchuk.

However, Rantanen doesn’t appear close to deciding either way. Friedman noted that he’s still dealing with the whirlwind of emotions that came along with being traded from the Colorado Avalanche on January 24th. The update doesn’t mean that Rantanen won’t ultimately sign a big-ticket extension with the Hurricanes, but he’s understandably hesitant to decide on spending the next eight years of his life with a team he’s been a part of for one month.

Although Rantanen is a few months away from becoming the biggest free agent name in recent memory, he has earned the right to choose his destination for the foreseeable future. Still, whether it’s his right or not, his decision, or lack thereof, has put Carolina in a difficult spot.

Unlike the hodgepodge of prospects the Hurricanes dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins last season for rental winger Jake Guentzel, Carolina parted with high-level assets for Rantanen. Martin Nečas had been flirting with the Art Ross Trophy for much of the season and Jack Drury is more than efficient in his role as a third-line center. The Hurricanes could have a hefty dosage of buyer’s remorse should they lose Rantanen to free agency this summer (although a Stanley Cup championship may numb the pain).

The lack of immediate extension in Carolina has some insiders believing the Hurricanes may opt to trade Rantanen at the deadline rather than lose him for nothing. Carolina can bring Rantanen’s salary down to an impressively affordable $2.31MM should they retain another 50% opening his market to an entirely new audience. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, it’ll be difficult to recoup a player of similar value given their cap situation, almost guaranteeing they’ll be worse off for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Carolina could target NHL-ready talent in a ’Moneyball-esque’ way of recreating Rantanen’s ability and talent by committee. Still, given the value of above-average entry-level contracts on a contending team’s roster, it’ll be difficult to find a team willing to move those assets for a few months of Rantanen despite his game-changing talent.

The only thing entirely known is that time isn’t on the Hurricanes’ side. Carolina has a tight window to decide on Rantanen’s future given that there are less than two weeks until the deadline. The best approach may be to put as much pressure on Rantanen and his representatives this week (without completely alienating him), and begin contacting interested teams should they fail to ink an extension by the week of the deadline.

Hurricanes Could Explore Trading Mikko Rantanen

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Elliotte Friedman speculated on the 32 Thoughts podcast that the Carolina Hurricanes could look to explore a Mikko Rantanen trade if they can’t get the forward signed to a contract extension. The talk is very speculative, and Friedman is not the first to float the idea of another Rantanen trade as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period has mentioned it before and even Friedman discussed it as a possibility back on February 7th.

Carolina is reportedly okay with paying Rantanen an annual salary in the $14MM range (as per Pagnotta) but the talk around the league is that his decision will come down to fit and whether or not he would be comfortable in the setting he signs a long term deal in.

Carolina just traded for Rantanen back on January 25th, and if they were to move him to another deal, they would have the ability to retain his salary, which could push his cap hit down to just $2.3MM. That would open up the door for many contenders to pursue him, which might start a bidding war for the 28-year-old. Most of the top teams in the NHL are pressed up against the salary cap, but for a true star at the price point, the suitors would be many.

Friedman points out that even teams who normally couldn’t pursue Rantanen, or wouldn’t pursue him may be inclined to, simply because the cap hit would be so minimal, and it might stop one of their potential playoff opponents from trading for him.

Either way, the development will be fascinating to watch. If Carolina can’t get Rantanen signed long-term, they might see the opportunity to extract more value than they traded away as a bigger priority than holding onto Rantanen as a rental this season. Any team looking to acquire Rantanen would likely view a trade for him as a pure rental, which will suit some teams just fine if they feel their competitive window is closing and they can get him at a discount.

Sidney Crosby, Mikko Rantanen Healthy For 4 Nations Face-Off

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Team Canada is celebrating after just one practice for the 4 Nations Face-Off, following news that international superstar Sidney Crosby will be good to go when Canada kicks off the tournament on Thursday, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. This news comes after Crosby missed the Pittsburgh Penguins’ last two games with an upper-body injury. He practiced in full at Canada’s Monday skate, serving on the team’s second line and filling the net-front role on the top power-play unit. Crosby also serves as Canada’s captain, as he has at the country’s last three international events with NHL talent.

Team Canada will be at relatively full strength with news of Crosby’s health. The team has no shortage of superstar talent – boasting Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar, arguably the three top players in the NHL. But the Canadian crest doesn’t shine the same without Crosby being part of the group. His international highlights are enough to satisfy an entire career. Crosby famously scored Canada’s “Golden Goal” at the 2010 Winter Olympics to pull the country ahead of Team USA in the Gold Medal game. He had seven points in seven games in that tournament and added three more in six games of the 2014 Olympics, where Canada repeated their Gold Medal win with a team led in scoring by Shea Weber and Drew Doughty. Crosby has only appeared in two international events since that second gold, netting 11 points in nine games of the 2014 World Championship and scoring 10 points in six games of the 2016 World Cup. His presence and international track record will make Canada the country to beat early in this year’s tournament.

The shorthanded Team Finland has received similarly bright news, with Finnish coach Antti Pennanen sharing that Mikko Rantanen will join the team for their first game against Team USA per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. That’s a key bit of news with defensemen Miro Heiskanen, Jani Hakanpää, and Rasmus Ristolainen ruled out for the event due to injuries, leaving them with names like Nikolas Matinpalo and Urho Vaakanainen on their blue line.

Rantanen has represented Finland at every step of his pro hockey career. He appeared in two World Juniors with Finland in 2015 and 2016, totaling nine points in 12 games and captaining the team in the latter tournament. Rantanen also represented Finland at the 2016 World Championship, marking the first of four appearances at the international tourney. He’s totaled 31 points in 31 World Championship games and stands as potentially Finland’s biggest scoring threat at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Rantanen’s role in the lineup isn’t yet clear, but he will likely support the team’s top line and top power-play unit next to Aleksander Barkov and one of Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, or Artturi Lehkonen.

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