If The Canes Flip Mikko Rantanen… Is Vegas A Possible Landing Spot?

If The Canes Flip Mikko Rantanen… Is Vegas A Possible Landing Spot?

It certainly appears the chatter about Carolina potentially flipping Mikko Rantanen after initially acquiring him from the Colorado Avalanche is real. Of course, Carolina would love to extend Rantanen but the closer we get to the March 7th deadline date without a deal, the more of a chance it would seem that the Finnish winger gets moved again. If Carolina does part ways without an extension… the Vegas Golden Knights could become serious players.

Let’s start with the number one factor in all of this. It would appear that Carolina learned this lesson the hard way with Jake Guentzel. After Guentzel walked for nothing, maybe they’re just not willing to do that again with Rantanen. It sure feels like all of this Rantanen flipping talk feels more feasible for that reason alone.

If the Canes do flip Rantanen… I highly doubt they want to deal with possibly playing against him in the playoffs. I don’t think it’s an accident Colorado sent Rantanen East the first time around. Just like Carolina likely will send him West this go around. Teams like Jersey, Washington, Toronto, Florida, etc are probably out for that reason. No chance Carolina sends Rantanen to a team they will have to go through in the East, right?

Keep in mind, pretty much every contender can get in on this after the Blackhawks retained 50% already bringing the cap hit down to $4.6 million. If the Canes eat another 50% to increase a potential return… now we’re talking about Rantanen down at $2.3 million. Not to mention the fact that you could get a third party broker involved to bring his cap hit down to next to zero.

After the deadline last year, can you really count out Kelly McCrimmon and the rest of the VGK front office to go down quietly on something like this? Last year, Vegas stole the show landing Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl. The one true need this team has is a scoring winger who can fill the Jonathan Marchessault spot in the lineup. Rantanen would certainly be a way higher upside version of that.

Also, on this kind of trade, you’re probably looking for some sort of center who can replicate what Nathan MacKinnon provided Rantanen in Colorado. Leaguewide, Jack Eichel is about as close as you’re going to get. I have no doubt that Eichel will provide Rantanen sick scoring chances to get him back on track.

The return that Carolina gets back here may not be super great too. This is likely going to be treated as a pure rental. Maybe Vegas will re-sign him but I’m also positive that’s something they will worry about after the cup run. If Carolina couldn’t get a contract done, I highly doubt another team will fork over mega assets here.

Would two second round picks and maybe a prospect or two get it done? If so, Vegas could pull off a shocker. They’ve done it before and guess what… their first round matchup as of today would be… Colorado.

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