If Fortune favors The Bold, a Stanley Cup Final with the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche is in the works.
The blockbuster trade headlined by Mikko Rantanen going from the Avalanche to the Hurricanes was a bold move by both clubs, even if it will send the rest of the league into a frenzy sooner than expected.
To summarize what was a three-team deal, the Avalanche dealt Rantanen—a two-time 100-pointer who has netted 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games this season—to the Hurricanes, via the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago also sent pending unrestricted free agent left wing Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes while retaining half of Rantanen’s salary and getting a third-round pick—which happens to be their own pick that had been dealt to Carolina in last year’s draft.
The Avalanche get a pair of forwards in Martin Necas, who can skate on the club’s top two lines, and Jack Drury, plus a 2025 second draft pick and 2026 fourth round pick.
In acquiring Rantanen, a 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent who will likely become the highest-paid wing in the league, the Hurricanes paid a steep price. But the long-standing saying of a hockey card is that the winning team is the one that gets the best player, and Rantanen is arguably the best player in the deal.
That’s just part of Carolina’s brave reasons. While they were eliminated from the playoffs in the second round in five of the past six seasons, the Hurricanes have been undone too often by the lack of an offensive game-breaker. Rantanen can fill that void, and if the Hurricanes could ink him to a contract extension, he’ll provide that ability for many years.
That said, the Avalanche deserve credit for making a big move. Dealing Rantanen likely puts a crimp on their playoff chances, but with his salary demands, everything but pricing from Denver — where Mackinnon’s $12.6 million per season contract appears to be the team’s cap — seems better off moving Rantanen than losing him to him for Nothing in the summer.
Also, be shocked if Colorado GM Chris MacFarland has a follow-up move or two in the works to bolster his club.
Meanwhile, NECAS, 26, could potentially be the much-needed second-line center Colorado dearly needs, though he’s more likely to be a wing alongside superstar Nathan MacKinnon.
Drury, 24, is a solid third- or fourth-line forward who is well off the eight-goal, 27-point season he posted in 2023-24.
As easy as it is to lamb the avalanche, it will be worth seeing what comes down the pike. With a bump in salary cap space and an extra couple of draft picks, MacFarland has the ability to find that long-desired second line.
Right now, the Vancouver Canucks seem poised to move on from either Elias Pettersson or JT Miller, and both would fit in perfectly with the Avalanche. That said, there are other squads that would love to make their pitch for one of these centers.
The March 7 deadline is barely six weeks away. A blockbuster to start the festivities so far in advance is a great way to whet the appetite.
