NHL star Mikko Rantanen was traded for the second time this season when it was clear he wouldn’t re-sign with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Rantanen was dealt to the Dallas Stars on Friday for 22-year-old forward Logan Stankoven, a 2026 first-round and third-round pick, a 2027 third-rounder and a 2028 first-rounder. Both first-round picks are top-10 protected.
The two-time 100-point scorer signed an eight-year extension with Dallas for an average of $12 million a year.
The Hurricanes had acquired the 28-year-old Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche in January for Martin Necas and Jack Drury, along with a second-round pick and fourth-round pick.
‘If you only make moves when you’re 100% sure you know exactly how it’s going to work out, you’re going to miss some opportunities to make the team better,’ Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky told reporters.
Grading Friday’s Mikko Rantanen trade between the Stars and Hurricanes:
Dallas Stars: A-
The Stars reached the Western Conference final the past seasons and Rantanen could get them to the next round. He’s a big winger who excels in the playoffs (101 points in 81 games) and won a Stanley Cup in 2022. He scored 55 goals two seasons ago. His production did drop in Carolina when he wasn’t playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon, but Dallas has plenty of forwards who can help his game. Rantanen joins a lineup with fellow Finnish players, and he was able to go under his market value because Texas has no state income tax.
Carolina Hurricanes: C-
The Hurricanes get dinged not for this trade but because they traded for Rantanen the first time without knowing whether he’d re-sign with them. Didn’t they learn from last year when Jake Guentzel left in free agency after they made a trade deadline splash for him? The Hurricanes were smart to move Rantanen at the deadline, and Stankoven (and the first-rounders) are good pickups long-term. Tulsky even said Stankoven was ‘born to a Carolina Hurricane.’ But in the short term, losing Necas and adding Stankoven won’t make them better during this year’s playoffs.