You never know what to expect when a player like Mikko Rantanen becomes a trade possibility. Yet, for him to be traded not once, but twice in less than two months is quite remarkable. He was courted by numerous teams for his services. After a deadline day trade from Carolina to Dallas, he will join his third team quickly.
On January 24, 2025, the Colorado Avalanche traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of a three-team trade. The Hurricanes sent a third-round draft pick to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Hurricanes then sent a second-round draft pick in 2025, a fourth-round draft pick in 2026, Jack Drury, and Martin Nečas to the Avalanche. The Blackhawks sent Taylor Hall and Nils Juntorp to the Hurricanes.
His second trade was less complicated but showed he was still a hot commodity. The Hurricanes received forward Logan Stankoven, a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a conditional first-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft, a third-round pick in the 2026 draft, and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
For Carolina it was another disappointing result. They lost forward Jake Guenzel to the Tampa Bay Lightning over the summer last year. Rantanen just didn’t “fit in” in Carolina. He only tallied two goals and four assists in 13 games. That’s considerably below his career average of 1.09 points per game.
Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said taking risks and being aggressive is what the Hurricanes are all about.
“If you only make moves when you’re 100 percent, you know exactly how it’s going to work out, you’re going to miss some opportunities to make the team better,” Tulsky said. “That’s not what we want to do. If the team was already winning Cup after Cup after Cup, maybe that would be a time to be conservative, but we haven’t gotten where we want to be yet. So, we need to keep taking chances and trying to push things forward.
“Ultimately, that means you’re taking some risks. When you’re bringing in a player like Mikko, the upside of having that work out long-term is worth that risk in my mind. Obviously, we didn’t want it to end with him being traded away; that wasn’t the goal, but that trade allowed us to bring in other pieces that will help us.”
“It’s been crazy,” Rantanen told TSN. “It was the first time I’ve been traded from Colorado and it happened quick, everything, and all of a sudden you’re on a new team for the first time and then this situation comes with the contract and stuff, so it’s been something that I never thought I would fully experience, but here we are.”
Dallas has become a Cup favorite with the Mikko Rantanen acquisition. The Stars (41-19-2) are second in the Central Division with 84 points, eight behind the NHL-best Winnipeg Jets, while playing two fewer games. Dallas has been eliminated in the Conference Final the last two seasons.
This could be the year they advance to the Cup Final. They have two major players returning from injury by the time the postseason begins. Miro Heiskanen and Tyler Seguin are expected to be back before the postseason commences. That’s huge. Their lineup shows they will be a tough team to beat going forward.
A key element of the Stars acquiring Mikko Rantanen was signing him to an extension. Ultimately, the star forward agreed to an eight-year $96 million pact. Mikko Rantenen just felt like joining the Stars was the better option.
“I think at the time, obviously I had to look at all the options because there was no deal when the trade (to Carolina) happened,” he said. “It was kind of a situation where I had to think about my life for a long period of time, not only on the ice but also off the ice.”
“Obviously, it’s a really good team in Carolina, the last couple of years they’ve been close to the Stanley Cup. But I think the fit in Dallas and I’ve been thinking a lot about it with myself and my camp and (my girlfriend) Susanna and everything. Just the fit I feel like everywhere, I think that was what the decision was.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to evaluate that the Carolina Hurricanes got blown away (pun intended), not once but twice recently. Losing two players like Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen without an excellent return may haunt them for years. It shows that a general manager never knows what players think about their futures.
It is not always about money; in the Rantanen case, he could have signed for more money elsewhere. He wants to win a Cup and may get his wish playing in Dallas.
For Carolina, it’s back to the drawing board. They are still an excellent team, but with Rantanen, Dallas has to be considered a Cup favorite.
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