HomeHockeyCarolina Hurricanes Acquire Mikko Rantanen in Blockbuster Trade

Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Mikko Rantanen in Blockbuster Trade



The Carolina Hurricanes are making headlines on a Friday night as they acquired Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks.

BREAKING: Sources tell @DailyFaceoff that #GoAvsGo are in the process of trading Mikko Rantanen to #Canes.

Sounds like this is a complex three-way deal and I believe Taylor Hall is also involved in the deal going to Carolina from Chicago.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 25, 2025

The Hurricanes will send Martin Necas and Jack Drury, a 2025 2nd round pick and a 2026 4th round pick to Colorado as part of the deal. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks will get a third-round pick to retain 50 percent of Rantanen’s salary, which is about $4.6 million. The Hurricanes also receive the rights to Nils Juntorp, a 2022 6th round pick by the Blackhawks.

The Colorado Avalanche continue to reshape their team. First GM Chris MacFarland revamped his goaltending, moving out Alexandar Georgiev to the San Jose Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood. That was right after moving Justus Annunen to Nashville for Scott Wedgewood. Now, the Avalanche have reshaped their entire top six offensive units.

Rantanen was an unrestricted free agent and was eligible to sign an extension on July 1st. It was a complicated extension. More complicated than the Avalanche thought. The Leon Draisaitl extension really threw a monkey wrench in the Rantanen negotiations. Rantanen was looking for $14 million, while the Avalanche wanted to pay him less than Nathan MacKinnon, who was at $12.6 million.

There were some rumblings that he could be traded, but most expected the Avalanche to figure out how to get things done or at least wait until the end of the season to get a new deal. But that was not the case. The Hurricanes will get the dynamic superstar they have been looking for. Rantanen can do it all by setting up his teammates, being a big body that can move the puck, and, most importantly, finishing.

This is the second year in a row that the Hurricanes have acquired an unrestricted free agent. Jake Guentzel was acquired before the deadline last year from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We know the Carolina Hurricanes were active in the trade market. Carolina was in discussion with the Vancouver Canucks about J.T. Miller but was also talking to Colorado about Rantanen.

Remember Carolina and Vancouver talked about Necas for Pettersson last year. Colorado added Drury and Necas to replace the production of Rantanen, whom they just could not sign.

This is a huge blockbuster trade, and now the Colorado Avalanche may not be done as they have cap space to add.

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