Hurricanes' Handling of Mikko Rantanen Becomes Cautionary Tale

The Carolina Hurricanes came out of the trade deadline with egg on their face.

Feb 22, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Carolina Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen (96) prepares for a face-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images / Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Six weeks. That's how long Mikko Rantanen's time with the Carolina Hurricanes lasted.

On Jan. 24, the Hurricanes acquired the star forward from the Colorado Avalanche, beginning what ended up being a wild trade season. On Friday, the day of the NHL's trade deadline, the Hurricanes shipped him off to the Dallas Stars and ended this failed experiment. Extension talks reportedly broke down between the two sides and Carolina, not wanting to lose another deadline acquisition for nothing, shipped him off to Dallas, who signed him to an eight-year deal worth $12 million per year.

Quite frankly, it's about time this exhausting saga came to an end. Now that it's over, though, there seem to be two distinct camps forming in regards to Carolina's decisions.

Mar 1, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) watches his shot against the Edmonton Oilers during the third period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images / James Guillory-Imagn Images

The first camp seems to believe that the Hurricanes did a good bit of business in this saga, and when looking at the raw assets, it's understandable. When combining the two Rantanen trades, this ends up being the result on Carolina's end.

Out:

• Martin Necas
• Jack Drury
• 2025 second-round pick
• 2025 third-round pick
• 2026 fourth-round pick

In:

• Taylor Hall
• Logan Stankoven
• Nils Juntorp
• 2026 conditional first-round pick
• 2026 third-round pick
• 2027 third-round pick
• 2028 conditional first-round pick

In a vacuum, that's a very good haul for Carolina. Necas' future in Raleigh was already questionable after he signed a two-year bridge contract last offseason, so trading him out and getting a solid veteran in Hall, a promising youngster in Stankoven and two first-round picks, among other pieces, isn't bad.

The problem is, these deals didn't take place in a vacuum, which is why the second camp has a problem with this series of moves.

It's impossible to talk about this trade without questioning what Carolina was thinking when it acquired Rantanen, wanting him to extend long-term without knowing if he would want to be there long-term. Last season's big deadline acquisition, Jake Guentzel, left in the offseason after the Hurricanes couldn't extend him, so if they wanted to avoid the same fate with Rantanen, they should've made sure he was on board before pulling the trigger.

There's also the fact that the Hurricanes are undeniably a worse team than they were before making this deal, and possibly before acquiring Rantanen in the first place. Yes, Hall has played well in Carolina and Stankoven has outstanding potential, but they're not Rantanen, who admittedly didn't play very well in his brief time with the team but is one of the best players in the league at his peak. Even down the line, their chances at a Cup probably aren't as good as they were with a peak Rantanen.

The extra first-round picks are in a similar boat, they'll be great to have down the road, but they don't help now. The Hurricanes could look to flip those picks in the future for more proven players, but when this is how they handle deadline acquisitions, should anyone expect them to be that aggressive in the future?

Finally, the Hurricanes acquiring Rantanen indirectly led to other Eastern Conference contenders loading up at the deadline. The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo, the Florida Panthers acquired Seth Jones, Brad Marchand and more, and so on. Those teams may be in the Atlantic and not the Metropolitan Division, but the Hurricanes have to go through one of them to win it all, and that just became substantially more difficult.

All in all, the Hurricanes' moves throughout the Rantanen saga reeks of a team that doesn't know what it wants to be. They made a move that would suggest they're going all-in six weeks ago, only to reverse course and make a move for the future at the deadline. Is this team a current contender or building to become one down the line? It seems not even Carolina knows that answer.

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