‘Genuinely baffled’: Bombshell Rantanen trade sparks all kinds of reactions
A NHL bombshell dropped on Friday night when reports emerged that the Avalanche were trading star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes. Here’s some of the instant reaction.
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Once again, Taylor Hall is involved in one of the wilder NHL trades in recent memory.
In a bombshell deal breaking Friday evening, the Carolina Hurricanes acquired star forward Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks as part of a three-team deal, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The Avalanche will receive forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury from the Hurricanes, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick, while the Blackhawks will receive a 2025 third-round pick and retain half of Rantanen’s salary.
As details slowly leaked out, it brought back memories of June 29, 2016, when hockey fans were glued to their phones as the infamous Weber-for-Subban and Hall-for-Larsson deals broke on the same day.
And while the book is mostly closed on those blockbusters, a new trade chapter is set to unfold as a pair of playoff teams in Colorado and Carolina make major changes to their forward groups.
Here’s a selection of the reaction on social media:
The deal had some analysts dreaming even bigger:
Meanwhile, the trickle-down effect of the trade may affect the Vancouver Canucks’ leverage as they pursue a trade and the Hurricanes, a supposed J.T. Miller suitor, are taken off the board:
