The Colorado Avalanche stunned the hockey world by dealing superstar winger Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in a blockbuster three-team trade on Friday night. Rantanen is an Avalanche 2015 first-round pick and was a significant part of the club’s successful run to the 2022 Stanley Cup.
Colorado was likely forced into the move after reaching an impasse with Rantanen and his agent, Andy Scott, on contract extension negotiations. The 28-year-old forward is in the final year of a six-year contract he signed in 2019 worth $9.25 million per season. However, per St. Louis Blues reporter Andy Strickland, Rantanen was apparently unaware of any recent trouble between the two sides in finding common contract ground.
“Mikko Rantanen was completely caught off guard by the trade and was very upset,” Strickland tweeted Saturday. “Colorado showed very little to no interest in attempting to re-sign him over the last several months. This was a panic move by Colorado.”
Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reports that Rantanen and Scott sought a comparable deal to the one Leon Draisaitl signed with the Edmonton Oilers this past September. The Oilers committed eight years and $112 million ($14M AAV) to the superstar German center.
Draisaitl’s deal made him the highest-paid player in the NHL, something Friedman says the Avalanche could not commit to matching for Rantanen. The Avalanche have Nathan MacKinnon, the league’s most recent MVP, on their payroll for $12.6 million per season and will need to ink star defenseman Cale Makar to an extension in just two years.
“Mikko’s a superstar. But he’s earned the right to be a free agent,” Colorado general manager Chris MacFarland said Saturday. “It hurts, right? He’s a homegrown talent, a superstar talent, a superstar human being. But that’s sports. Your heartstrings get tugged. That’s why we all do this. He had the UFA card. We felt this is what we had to do.”
Rantanen departs Colorado after posting over 100 points in each of the last two seasons. He was the Avalanche’s leading goal scorer at the time of the trade, and his 64 points (25g, 39a) ranked sixth in the NHL coming into Friday night.
Per Friedman, the Hurricanes had no talks of an extension with Rantanen before the trade became official. Carolina is scheduled to have over $31 million in cap space in the 2025 offseason based on the current NHL salary cap ($88M). The cap is expected to rise by at least $4.5 million this summer.
