Rantanen, Hall to Carolina in blockbuster mid-season trade

By: Kaiden Brayshaw

The blockbuster trade sent Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to Carolina, with Martin Necas, Jack Drury and picks heading to Colorado and Chicago retaining half of Rantanen’s salary for a third-round pick.

Carolina: 

Receives: MIkko Rantanen, Taylor Hall, rights to Nils Juntorp

Loses: Jack Drury, Martin Necas, 2025 2nd round pick, 2025 3rd round pick, 2026 4th round pick

Carolina went completely all in with this move, one-upping their own trade deadline acquisition last year. The question is, how will this trade turn out? The team was unable to resign Jake Guenztel after his strong play with the team last season. This time around, they’ve traded for a bigger fish in Rantanen, who immediately becomes the team's best player.

Rantanen is the game breaking player Carolina has needed and acquiring him without giving up Seth Jarvis is impressive. His proven playoff success (101 points in 81 total playoff games) will give the Hurricanes their go-to-guy and allows Sebastian Aho to be one of the best second options in the league. A top power play unit of Aho, Jarvis, Svechnikov, Gostisbehere and now Rantanen will be extremely deadly.

The Hurricanes received Rantanen at 50 per cent retained and as a UFA this summer. Making this trade, you’d have to think the Hurricanes are willing to fork up the $13+ million it’ll take to sign Rantanen, but until there is pen to paper this trade cannot be accurately gauged.

At this point, Taylor Hall is a strong offensive bottom six player. He adds another body to Carolina's bottom six and can slot nicely onto either power play unit in a bind. Hall is a UFA after this season, as a rental he should fit on the hurricanes.

On paper, Carolina now becomes the favourite to win the eastern conference.

Colorado: 

Receives: Martin Necas, Jack Drury, 2025 2nd round pick, 2026 4th round pick

Loses: Mikko Rantanen

This deal is a tough pill to swallow for Avs fans. Losing a huge piece of the 2022 Stanley Cup winning team and a future hall of famer is never easy. Martin Necas being the key piece of the return gives Colorado a proven 70-point player to add to their lineup. The Avalanche also gave themselves flexibility. With the assets they acquired and without needing to pay Mikko Rantanen, the Avalanche can be aggressive in pursuing another big fish, or they can save their cap space until 2027, when Cale Makar will be due for a raise.

With Necas being a RFA after next season, the question is what type of deal will the team sign him to? If they get stuck paying him $8.5 Million+ over 8 years, they lose their flexibility and paying Rantanen may have been the better option. Top 15 players do not grow on trees, luckily for the Avalanche they still have two more. Unlucky for them, their core isn’t as stable as it was yesterday, and their future is now in GM Chris Macfarlands hands.

Jack Drury is a solid depth piece who turns 25 on Feb. 3rd. Colorado will hope he grows with the team and turns into a middle six player down the road.

The picks the Avalanche acquired are a mystery, drafting is not a science and the team better hope they find a diamond in the rough to replace Rantanens 50 goal scoring potential.

Chicago: 

Receives: 2025 3rd round pick, $4,625,000 of Mikko Rantanen’s salary

Loses: Taylor Hall

Through trading Taylor Hall's $6 million and taking on half of Rantanen's salary, the Blackhawks save money. On paper, saving money and gaining a 3rd round pick sounds like a no-brainer. At the 2023 deadline we saw the Coyotes get a 3rd round pick for brokering a very similar deal, but the Coyotes did not give up any assets in the trade. How Kyle Davidson only managed to acquire a 3rd round pick for retaining salary and trading Taylor Hall I will never know. 

Aside from the easiest choice of their lives, drafting Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks havemade some very...strange moves. The team better hope they do well in this year's draft.