Carolina Hurricanes trade Mikko Rantanen to Dallas Stars

In the end the Finnish Star didn’t want to stay in Raleigh

Mikko we hardly knew you.

After a shocking trade that reverberated across the hockey world a few weeks ago, the Carolina Hurricanes had hoped that they would be able to make a splash by signing one of the biggest UFA’s in Mikko Rantanen to an eight year deal before he could hit the open market. At the same time his size and skill would have helped this year’s team immediately after a surprising start that had them in contention for the Stanley Cup in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

Unfortunately, circumstances just never seemed to fit right. As the Trade Deadline grew closer, rumblings grew that the Hurricanes were checking around to see what a return would be if Rantanen were flipped to another team.

Still, Rantanen played against the Bruins last night, but the mood of the team both during and after the game seemed to signal that something was up. Rantanen wasn’t made available during the day, and Sebastian Aho spoke very carefully about his feelings on the Deadline.

Overnight, things started to take shape with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting that the Canes and Dallas Stars were first discussing a deal, then had the framework of one to where Rantanen and his agents were allowed to talk with the Stars about the eight year extension. During the day there were ups and downs. Folks were reminded that the Canes had offered a roughly $13 million-$14 million per year contract to him, and that Dallas was holding firm on their roughly $12 million offer. There were reports of an impasse.

Then, around 1 PM the dam broke. The sides came to an agreement and the trade will happen. The final return looks like this:

On the surface for someone of Rantanen’s caliber it does seem a little underwhelming. However, there a few things to keep in mind:

• The fact that he willingly took less to go to Dallas means he knew his bridges had been burned in Carolina. For whatever reason he had decided the Canes weren’t a good enough fit for him to spend the next eight years, and once world leaked that he was allowed to talk to another team, he just couldn’t come back to the locker room.
• Remember the full trade back in January was Drury/Necas and 2nd/4th round picks for Rantanen/Hall. Thus, the trade now is Drury/Necas/2nd/4th round picks for Hall/Stankhoven/two first round picks. Considering Drury is a replaceable player and Necas was absolutely not going to re-sign with Carolina in the summer of 2026, the return here is actually fair. Plus the Canes may be flipping those first rounders as of this post.
• It’s clear the locker room vibes were off from the moment the trade happened. Their two best games since the trade were the 4-0 win in New York against the Rangers, and then the 7-3 win against Utah at home when Rantanen was out with a minor injury. If the superstar wasn’t going to play like a superstar, it’s a net positive to subtract him from the locker room.
• The Canes showed they had learned their lesson from the Guentzel debacle last season. Everyone is in agreement that the Canes were proactive in approaching Rantanen and giving him what would turn out to be a contract that was more than what he would sign for. You want your team to swing big and learn from mistakes, unfortunately here it just wasn’t meant to be.
• The Canes will go into Free Agency with a ton of cap room and—barring a move later today—extra picks to make yet another swing this offseason. They’ll do that knowing that Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow will be on the ice with Aho, Jarvis, Slavin, Svechnikov—among others—signed to what would be long-term and team friendly deals that will allow them to load up.

We’ll see if the Canes do anything else before the 3 PM Eastern deadline.