Mikko Rantanen trade destinations: Could Canucks enter mega-sweepstakes?
If you posited the notion Mikko Rantanen could be swapped twice in-season, somebody would worry you’d stopped wearing your helmet at beer league. But with his name entering trade discussions again, Ryan Dixon looks at some possible proposals for the Finnish superstar.
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If, six weeks ago, you introduced the idea Mikko Rantanen would be traded this year to a hockey discussion, you’d surely get a sideways look or two from the people around you. If you posited the notion Rantanen could be swapped twice in-season, somebody would worry you’d stopped wearing your helmet at beer league.
His pending UFA status notwithstanding, it was an absolute shocker when the Colorado Avalanche shipped Rantanen — who was sixth in league scoring at the time — to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24.
Then, just as we were starting to wrap our brains around the move — Carolina made a big bet and hoped to ink Rantanen to an extension, Colorado gained some cap flexibility while still adding a good player in Martin Necas — rumours began swirling that Carolina could re-gift Rantanen if it can’t come to terms on a new deal. The Canes made a big move for Jake Guentzel at the deadline last year, then couldn’t close the deal with him as a UFA who ultimately wound up in Tampa Bay.
Nobody likes getting burned once, let alone twice.
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Real Kyper’s Trade Board
Hockey Insider Nick Kypreos shares the latest intel on players who could be on the move ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.
Still, Rantanen — one of the absolute best two-way wingers in the world — getting traded twice in the span of a month-and-a-half? Let’s just acknowledge this as the bonkers situation that it is, one that keeps producing new questions as we peel off more and more layers of the onion.
Is there any world where Rantanen would ink an extension with the third team he plays for this season? It sure seems unlikely, if for no other reason than the fact the guy’s head must be swimming with everything that’s gone on this year. Throw in his twirl with Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off and Rantanen has barely had time to memorize his new address in Raleigh, let alone contemplate committing the next decade of his life to another NHL squad.
Also, what would Carolina — a team trying to break through in the playoffs — want in return if Rantanen is, indeed, just a pure rental? The whole reason to go get him in the first place was to get over the hump in May and June. Would Carolina accept futures back? If not, which contender potentially dealing for Rantanen has players on its roster it can afford to move if the Canes demand a return that helps them win now?
It’s all more dizzying than the Canes hoped their attack would be with Rantanen on the team playing with Finnish pal Sebastian Aho.
Who knows, maybe Carolina decides to stick and make an enormous push to sign the player, ideally after a successful playoff run when he’s had time to contemplate the alluring upside of living and playing in North Carolina.
If he goes back on the market, though, it’s a crazy situation that — at least for the purpose of our trade proposals here today — demands equally out-there thinking.
We’re going galaxy brain here folks, plain and simple. If Carolina put Rantanen on the market — especially with the potential for salary retention that could bring his cap hit under $2.5 million after Chicago ate half in the original deal with Colorado — every contender and pseudo-contender in the league would be calling. But how could the Canes — and some other teams in sticky situations of their own — get what they’re looking for out of the transaction?
We have some thoughts worthy of this wild situation.
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Watch Hockey Central Trade Deadline on Sportsnet
Sportsnet’s hockey news breakers, analysts and reporters will have coast-to-coast coverage of all the moves made ahead of this season’s NHL trade deadline. Full coverage on March 7 begins at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Carolina Hurricanes receive: Alex Tuch (50 per cent salary retention), 2026 Canucks second-round pick
Buffalo Sabres receive: Elias Pettersson
Vancouver Canucks receive: Dylan Cozens, Mikko Rantanen
On the off-chance it’s not clear, the theme that should be jumping off the page here is that it’s time to cut your losses.
Carolina is the on clock to make a decision with a gem of an asset who can leave for nothing in four months and, as yet, has not indicated he’ll be sticking around. Oh, by the way, he’s got one goal and three points in eight games with Carolina, which has lost their past two games by a combined score of 10-3.
Just sayin’.
Vancouver has moved heaven and earth — well, at the very least, moved J.T. Miller — to try and get Elias Pettersson back to his old self, but we’re now basically a full year into something being seriously off with the player. Once July hits, the Canucks lose the ability to trade him anywhere they can.
As for Buffalo, the Sabres haven’t made the playoffs since Barack Obama’s first term in office.
As Tom Petty once crooned, “Time to move on; time to get going.“
Tuch is inked through next season and could be precisely the type of big-bodied scorer Carolina will be thrilled to have for at least two playoff runs. He doesn’t turn 29 until May. The Canes would also still hold all their picks — plus an extra one from Vancouver — if they want to add elsewhere at the deadline.
Buffalo would be loath to lose Tuch, but something must be done. Pure and simple, it’s a bet on Pettersson — who’s in the first year of an eight-year deal — rediscovering his form and once again becoming a 100-point centre who gets fringy Selke consideration. The Swede is still only 26 and the net gain on the salary cap isn’t huge given you’re shipping out Cozens and his contract that runs through 2029-30.
Vancouver starts again with a 24-year-old centre in Cozens, who has had his ups and downs, but is coveted across the league for his size, two-way smarts and the added bonus of being a righty. As for Rantanen, you get an elite winger for a playoff push and — if nothing else — the inside track to make him part of your organization for a long time by offering him an eighth year nobody else can on a new pact.
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Carolina Hurricanes receive: Brock Boeser (50 per cent salary retention), Brock Nelson (50 per cent salary retention)
Vancouver Canucks receive: Noah Dobson, Mikko Rantanen
New York Islanders receive: Elias Pettersson, Tom Willander
The Hurricanes always have trouble scoring in the playoffs. Under this scenario, they’d be getting two players who can help with that, with significant salary retention. Again, Carolina would still possess all of its own picks to put in play elsewhere. It also seems like there’s a decent chance they could find a mutually beneficial way to keep one of Nelson or Boeser around for a few more seasons. Plus, “The Brocks” is a social media breakout just waiting to happen.
By acquiring Dobson — who is hurt right now during what’s been a down year — Vancouver would be fully transforming its identity from a short time ago as a team that’s weak on the back end to a club that suddenly has Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson and the six-foot-four, 25-year-old Dobson slotted perfectly on the left (Hughes, Petterson) and right side (Hronek, Dobson) of its top 4. You could envision a scenario where Hughes wins the Norris in a season where Dobson also finishes sixth in voting.
The Canucks would have to set about finding centre help immediately, but no move is going to solve every problem at once. Dobson — a pending RFA — is in line for a big, new deal, but there’s a number out there that makes him more than happy without coming close to Pettersson’s AAV of $11.6 million. Take some of the savings and go after UFA Sam Bennett in the summer?
Like the Canucks, the Isles would be altering their DNA. How much longer can this be an organization defined by never scoring enough? Dating back to the 2021-22 season, the Islanders are 26th in goals-per-game (2.87). If they’re at all hesitant to spend on Dobson, give the money to Pettersson, reunite him with Bo Horvat and bet on him flourishing while playing in a much quieter market. It’s been said the Islanders are the ninth team in a nine-team sports town; that might be just what the doctor ordered for Pettersson after being the first thing everyone talks about in Vancouver. Moving a young D-man like Dobson would trigger a huge gulp, but Willander — who also happens to be a righty — is a crafty blue-liner who’s likely bound for pro hockey after finishing up his sophomore season at Boston University this season. He could be a decade-long fixture on your second pair.
Seem nuts? Well, a very short time ago, so would the idea that we’d be even talking about Rantanen playing for three different squads this season.
