‘Completely misinformed’: Rantanen’s agent claps back at Hurricanes’ Brind’Amour
On Tuesday, Mikko Rantanen’s agent fired back on behalf of his client, three days after his trade to the Dallas Stars.
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The Mikko Rantanen saga continues.
On Monday, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour created some headlines when he told a radio show that Rantanen implied he wouldn’t be signing an extension with the team upon arrival.
On Tuesday, the winger’s agent fired back on behalf of his client, three days after his trade to the Dallas Stars.
“We’ve got a ton of respect for Rod Brind’Amour, both as a player and a coach, but in this situation, he’s completely misinformed,” Andy Scott told Matt Marchese and Mike Futa on The FAN Hockey Show on Sportsnet.
Scott added that his client didn’t want to be traded out of Colorado in the first place, but kept an open mind after the Jan. 24 blockbuster. He pushed back on Brind’Amour’s claim that there was a four-team list for whom Rantanen was willing to play immediately following the trade.
“Mikko, when he was traded, we were solely focused on Colorado, so there was no list of any kind. In fact, when he arrived there, I met him in the days following and he was keeping a completely open mind about Carolina,” Scott continued. “He felt it out. It just didn’t make sense from more of a hockey standpoint, from a style-of-play standpoint.”
It’s clear by the dip in production that Rantanen had trouble transitioning effectively to Brind’Amour’s style of hockey. In 49 games with the Avalanche this season, Rantanen scored 25 goals and registered 65 points and a plus-12. With the Hurricanes, he had just two goals and six points in 13 games and a minus-three.
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Compared to two goals and three points in two games with the Stars — albeit a small sample size — Rantanen was not nearly as effective offensively in Carolina as he proved he was in Colorado.
Scott also noted that as a 10-year NHL veteran and six-time point-per-game player, Rantanen earned the ability to make an informed choice on his landing spot.
“This is a player that had a right to determine where he was going to play for the next eight years of his career,” Scott said. “He gave it a lot of thought. Even at 4 Nations … after 4 Nations, he had not made up his mind. And, ultimately, he did make up his mind and we helped Carolina out by providing a list of teams at that stage in terms of where he would go. But that is the truth — that’s how this unfolded. Anything otherwise is just not the case.”
Scott added that before the trade from the Avalanche, the Hurricanes sought permission to discuss extension with Rantanen, but his camp declined and made it clear they were solely focused on Colorado regarding extension talks. Carolina then made the choice to trade for him and aggressively pitch Rantanen on an extension, per Scott.
When Rantanen made the decision not to extend in Carolina, Scott said he communicated that fact with enough time for the Hurricanes to find a trade partner that would allow them to recoup the best possible assets.
“(Rantanen) could have very easily said, ‘No, I’m going to wait to become an unrestricted free agent and walk to free agency,’” Scott said on The FAN. “Or he could have said, ‘Trade me elsewhere, but I’m just going to be a rental,’ and they wouldn’t have recouped the assets they recouped in this deal, had he done that.
“The fact he was willing to sign an extension (with Dallas) at this juncture was big for Carolina. They would not have got the return they got on Mikko’s trade to Dallas if he wasn’t prepared to sign. In fact, he wouldn’t have been traded to Dallas if he was not prepared to sign an extension there.”
Rantanen’s eight-year, $96-million contract with the Stars did in fact yield a hefty return. Dallas sent first- and third-round picks in the 2026 and 2027 draft, a first-round pick in the 2028 draft and forward prospect Logan Stankoven to Carolina in exchange for the elite winger.
