Leave it to Carolina Hurricanes first-year GM Eric Tulsky to concoct perhaps the biggest NHL trade in the past few years on an unassuming Friday night.

Six weeks before the March 7 trade deadline and Mikko Rantanen is a Carolina Hurricane. So is Taylor Hall. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes sent off Martin Nečas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Avalanche. The Blackhawks generously retained 50 percent of Rantanen's $9.25 million cap hit for Carolina's 2025 third-round pick.

This seems like an obvious slam dunk for the Canes, but it doesn't mean the Avalanche whiffed. Nečas is having a career season, he's got term until 2026, and he has a far cheaper cap hit than Rantanen will command on the market. He's one of the fastest players in the league, and he hasn't always received top-line minutes with Carolina's top players to show his true potential. We're going to see him cook via zone entries next to Nathan MacKinnon -- it could take his flourishing game to new heights, and the return could've been much worse for Colorado. Nečas' style is going to fit with MacKinnon.

Jack Drury is a suitable bottom-six center who will get the job done for cheap, which will be important for the cap-strapped Avalanche over the next few seasons if they keep him around.

Rantanen and Hall are both pending UFAs, and there'd been rumblings of a potential Rantanen move if the Avalanche couldn't get an extension done with their limited cap space. Still, it's pretty wild to see a playoff team that has struggled at times let go of an all-around staple player who is on pace for his third 100+ point season -- especially to another playoff team.

The Hurricanes acquired a player who is now their top scorer with 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games while also unloading cap space. A Rantanen extension in Carolina would make this a perfect deal, but we won't know if they pull that off for a few months. Here are four reasons why the deal is looking pretty near-perfect for the Canes as is.

Eric Tulsky Makes Huge Statement and Worthwhile Risk

First-year NHL General Manager Eric Tulsky has been in the Hurricanes' front office for years, but he jumped right into the GM role last offseason as Don Waddell went off to the Blue Jackets. He had a mess of a roster turnover situation, but he turned it into an opportunity to build a savvy legacy.

He constructed a unique and blueprinty contract to keep Seth "Moneybags" Jarvis around, and he was able to find high upside low risk contracts like Jack Roslovic and and Eric Robinson that have panned out well.

Now we're seeing the savviest "chess not checkers" offseason move from the Harvard grad -- he didn't trade Necas back then. He likely anticipated the career year with more time and space for Necas with the roster holes and saw potential in a higher value down the line.

Now he's pulled off a seemingly out-of-left-field Friday night deal that the hockey world and beyond is talking about. Tulsky is the first of his kind to achieve GM status, a scientist with transferrable genius who just loved hockey and blogging about it with a full-time job in nanotechnology.

There's been a well-documented "old boys' club" vibe in the NHL GM world. While most of them could probably agree Tulsky's genius should be a welcome benefit in any NHL front office, the camaraderie among GMs who got there the "traditional" way has made some owners hesitant to put someone like Tulsky in a front-facing role.

The fact that Tulsky pulled off a well-received blockbuster is a meaningful statement not just for Tulsky, but for the path he's paving.

Trade Was Creative and Bends Cap Space Capabilities

If I told you at the beginning of the season that the Hurricanes ended up with Rantanen at 50 percent salary retained and Hall, you'd be surprised. Both players are pending UFAs, so we'll have to revisit the deal after the offseason and see how it all plays out.

You can understand the Nečas for Rantanen aspect with the Avalanche's cap situation at least, even if it's a risk for the Avs to trade a homegrown first-line staple who consistently nets 100+ points.

But the involvement of the Blackhawks stuns me every time and shows where savvy NHL GM's brains should be at when it comes to the future of trading. While we're seeing players rightfully earning higher paydays due to the cap ceiling rising, we're also seeing more third-party brokers involved in trades.

The Blackhawks received a 2025 third-round pick for Hall and for retaining half of Rantanen's salary. They unloaded Hall and his $6 million cap hit -- which they were likely going to do at the deadline anyway -- for a third-rounder. Effectively, they paid $1.625 million in cap space to move up about 20 spots from the 85-96 pick range.

Is there a projected third-rounder they've got their eye on? Was Hall going to command a mere third-rounder no matter what in Blackhawks management's eyes? Do they not care about helping another team too much, or do they hope the goodwill will be considered when the roles are reversed?

No matter how you slice it, the Hurricanes convinced a team to help them out significantly more than they helped out the said team. This seems to be the way to go.

Carolina Sold High on Nečas

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of this deal is how often Nečas has been talked about being on the trade block the past couple of years. His camp and the Hurricanes kept agreeing to bridge deals with the possibility that Necas would get traded in the offseason or trade deadline.

The Canes weren't shy about shopping him, but they also knew his value and potential and held tight, turning down any deals they believed were below his value. They weren't dealing from a point of desperation, and part of that was the looming roster changes heading into this season. They knew they had an ace in Necas to rely on to move up in the roster as several impact players were headed out.

Now we see that benefitted the team at every step of the way. Necas had a red-hot start that had him in the Hart conversation for a few weeks there as he kept the Hurricanes afloat instead of the step back many thought they'd take. Then, they were able to sell him as high as they possibly could for a perennial +100 points player.

Patience, people.

Rantanen Is the Right Fit at the Right Time

While a player like Rantanen couldn't be the "wrong" fit anywhere, he's especially poised to make an impact with the Hurricanes. After losing Jake Guentzel to free agency, the Hurricanes were sorely lacking that one truly impactful winger with star power needed to move the needle.

Of course, Seth Jarvis is great, but you know what I mean. Rantanen has 34 goals and 101 points in 81 playoff games -- somehow an upgrade from playoff Guentzel. The 28-year-old boasts a 2022 Stanley Cup. He logs the second-highest time on ice for a forward in the league. He's on pace for 107 points, which would be his third-straight 100+ point season.

Where Nečas has been criticized and sheltered in the past for defensive deficiencies, Rantanen is unquestionably a better player. Even if the Hurricanes don't end up re-signing him, they're showing a commitment to acquiring the best possible player available. It means a lot to the fans who have watched them do the opposite in the past.