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Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall Traded to Hurricanes in 3-Team Deal with Blackhawks, Avs

Julia Stumbaugh

Mikko Rantanen, who played parts of ten seasons and won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, is joining the Carolina Hurricanes, the team announced Friday.

Rantanen is being moved in a three-team deal that will also send veteran winger Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Hurricanes, as first reported by Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli and confirmed by ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

Hurricanes centers Martin Nečas and Jack Drury are going to the Avs as part of the deal.

Rantanen is playing on an expiring contract that will not be extended as part of the trade, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Athletic's Scott Powers first reported that the Blackhawks are taking on half of Rantanen's $9.25 million cap hit as part of the deal. The Hawks will meanwhile let go of the entirety of Hall's $6 million salary, per Powers.

The Canes could be adding one of the most productive wingers in the league by acquiring Rantanen, who ranks sixth in the NHL with 64 points in 49 games.

Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon have been one of the best duos in the NHL for years, leading the franchise to the 2022 Stanley Cup and becoming the first pair of Avs players to each record back-to-back 40-goal, 100-point seasons last spring.

Having just turned 28 in October, Rantanen could be set for a raise on his next contract from the $9.25 million he is making this season.

Even if the Canes are not able to extend him after this season, potentially slotting Rantanen in alongside Sebastian Aho on the top line just for the next few months could give the Hurricanes' offense an enormous boost as they gear up for a potential Stanley Cup run.

The Hurricanes meanwhile could lose two centers in Nečas and Drury.

Nečas, who anchored the third line, meanwhile avoided hitting the trade deadline as a potential rental by inking a two-year, $13 million extension before the season.

The Canes' center depth will now be tested as players like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal step up in Nečas' absence.

Hall heads to Raleigh in the final year of the four-year, $24 million deal he signed with the Boston Bruins ahead of the 2021-22 season. He said last week that he wanted to sign an extension in Chicago, but had "a feeling that's not really in the cards," per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Hall was in the middle of his second season with the Blackhawks, although he missed almost the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign after undergoing ACL surgery in November 2023. He was skating mostly on the Blackhawks' fourth line, and could take on a similar role in North Carolina.

The Hurricanes have previously been tied to trade interest in Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reported Thursday that the Hurricanes and New York Rangers had "permission to talk" with Miller, who has a full no-trade clause on his contract.

If the reported trade impacts the likelihood the Canes can find the cap space to acquire Miller, the Rangers could have a better chance of convincing the winger to agree to come to Manhattan.

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