A blockbuster trade seeing multiple NHL star players on the move went down Friday night. The Avalanche have traded Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes. In return they have received Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Carolina’s 2025 2nd round pick and 2026 4th round pick. Chicago is also involved in the trade, taking on half of Rantanen’s contract, sending Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes and receiving Caralina’s 2025 3rd round pick. This season Mikko Rantanen has 25 goals and 39 assists in 49 games. He is currently ranked 6th in the NHL for points and is tied for 7th in goals and assists this season. He is 28 years old and has a cap hit of $4.63 Million for both the Hurricanes and the Blackhawks for the rest of this season. Martin Necas 16 goals and 39 assists in 49 games. He is ranked 12th in the NHL for points and is tied for 7th in assists. Necas is 26 years old and making $6.5 Million this season and the next. Jack Drury has 3 goals and 9 assists in 39 games this season. He is 24 years old and making $1.73 Million for this season and the next. Taylor Hall has 9 goals and 15 assists in 46 games this season. He is 33 years old and makes $6 Million for the rest of this season. The Hurricanes are the 7th team Hall will suit up for in his NHL career.

I am a big fan of this trade for the Hurricanes. During this past offseason there was speculation the Canes were trying to ship off Necas, who had an 18-point drop-off from the 2022-23 season to the 2023-24 season and needed a new contract. However, they did not go through with any offer and Canes’ General Manager Eric Tulsky cashed in after Necas’s very good start this season. There is some question how good Rantanen will be away from the Avs system which had faces of the NHL such as Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, but I think it will be a smooth transition as the Canes have their fair share of offensive stars in their lineup. He already has chemistry with long-time Hurricane Sebastian Aho. They both played for Finland’s 2015 and 2016 World U20 Championship team’s where they won in 2016. As good as Necas has been this season, throughout his career he has been somewhat inconsistent unlike Rantanen who has consistently been top 10 in points 4 of the last 5 seasons including this season. While Drury is a solid depth player, he is very worth the upgrade from Necas to Rantanen in my opinion and has not been as offensively productive as Taylor Hall has been this season. The Hurricanes upgrading their lineup cost them just a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th which is not expensive at all considering the caliber of player they are getting with Rantanen. “I mean, it’s a totally different situation from Guentzel because of where our team is right now. If you look at what the (pending free agents) that we had at the end of last year ended up signing for, if we had tried to keep them all, we would have been about $20 Million over the cap. As things stand right now, we have about $35 Million or $40 Million of (cap) space for next year, depending on where the cap goes”, said Tulsky after acquiring Rantanen. If Tulsky is able to extend Rantanen past this season it makes the trade even better. Considering the Canes cap situation this off-season, extending Rantanen is definitely very realistic. 

Avalanche’s GM Joe Chris MacFarland decision to trade Rantanen has sparked some controversy. The Avs have proven themselves to be a contender this season and downgrading their roster is a little of a bad look. On the other hand, if they didn’t think they would be able to keep Rantanen or did not want to pay him what he wanted there is definitely an argument that this is better than losing him for nothing. While Necas has been somewhat inconsistent over his career, I think the style of western conference may be a little more suited for him. I am confident Necas can thrive in Colorado’s system. Necas has an extra year under contract after this season making $6.5 Million, giving the Avs a little more cap flexibility than if they were to try to extend Rantanen. In addition to him Jack Drury is a solid bottom 6 forward that is great at faceoffs and has a good all-around game. This season he has struggled to produce offensively but last season proved he is capable of being a 30-35 point player. I think the change in scenery is good for Drury. While I believe the draft capital was somewhat underwhelming, a 2nd and a 4th round pick is not nothing. 

Chicago served a smaller part in this trade than the Canes and Avs. Taking on half of Rantanen’s contract is not a big deal for the Blackhawks as they have more than enough cap space to take it on. They also moved on from Taylor Hall and received a 3rd round pick. I think a 3rd round draft pick for Hall is solid, he is not the player he once was. However, considering they retained salary I am a little surprised they could not receive a 2nd round pick or another pick in addition to the 3rd. It is definitely possible that there were other teams willing to take on half of Rantanen’s contract and give the Canes a similar player to Hall, putting some pressure on Chicago to not ask for too much. Overall, this trade is fine for Chicago.

Since the trade went down the Avalanche are 1-1, and the Canes lost their only game in overtime. In two games for Colorado Martin Necas has 2 assists and Jack Drury has a goal. Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall are yet to register a point.