Shocking is the only way to put how the bombshell of the announcement that the Carolina Hurricanes were making a trade for Avs star forward Mikko Rantanen made the entire hockey world feel when the news dropped. Out of nowhere the report came that a three-team deal consisting of the Avalanche, Hurricanes, and Blackhawks would be made sending Rantanen from Colorado to Carolina, along with Taylor Hall from Chicago. Rantanen who is on pace to have yet another stellar season, was booming alongside long time linemate Nathan Mackinnon and racked up 25 goals and 64 points so far this season on an Avs team currently sitting at fourth in the Central division and sixth in the Western conference.

In return for both Hall and Rantanen, Carolina will be sending a third round draft pick to Chicago and a package to Colorado containing Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second round pick, and a 2026 fourth round pick. Chicago will also be retaining 50% of Mikko Rantanen’s salary as a part of the deal.

For Colorado, their big concern with Rantanen was the fact that his contract expires at the end of the season, and it’s well known that he is going to want a massive payday for his next contract. With the Avs tied up with Mackinnon and Makar making $12.6 million and $9 million respectfully, they know that if Rantanen wants a contract in the realm of 13-14 million dollars, they aren’t gonna be able to pay him what he wants and decided to move him early and receive beneficial assets instead of potentially losing out on him in free agency for nothing. With obtaining Necas, Colorado finds themselves another highly skilled forward who’s having quite an impressive season as well, tallying 55 points so far, which only puts him nine points back of Rantanen’s mark so far. The other benefit for bringing in Necas is that he’s still under contract until 2026, meaning Colorado gets to have him for an extra year before figuring out whether or not to resign him. Necas would most likely fill in for Rantanen’s spot on the top line along with Mackinnon and would bring great synergy to the lineup as a healthy replacement.

As for Carolina, currently sitting at the top of the Eastern conference in points, this was a big splash of a move that was made to really put themselves ahead of the rest and solidify themselves as top contenders to make a real push at not just reaching the cup finals, but winning the whole thing. Like I previously mentioned, Rantanen is already off to a blazing hot start with Colorado this year, and him joining a Carolina team that still has guys like Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Jespari Kotkaniemi, and Seth Jarvis to name a few, Mikko will be joining a squad with a multitude of scoring threats and a high fire power offence that will compliment his game flawlessly. Taylor Hall will also be an exceptional bottom six forward on this lineup, bringing veteran leadership, and slick playmaking ability to play alongside guys like Jack Roslovic and Shayne Gostisbehere.

The Blackhawks really got dealt the short end of the stick in this deal, not only by sending away a player from their top six forawrd group in exchange for only a third round pick, but also for being the ones to have to take on 50% of Rantanen’s salary in order for this trade to go through. In reality Chicago never had anything going for them this season anyway, currently at the bottom of the standings in the entire NHL, so for them being able to get back a little bit of draft capitol at the expense of retaining some salary isn’t the end of the world for them.

Overall this trade was an absolute blockbuster and by far the biggest of the year so far, with the Avs trading one member of their big three in exchange for one of Carolina’s hottest young stars. And according to insiders, this deal wasn’t even the biggest on the table over the last 48 hours, meaning another shocker of a trade might be right around the corner…