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I can’t imagine being the person responsible for telling Nathan MacKinnon that you just traded Mikko Rantanen but somehow that’s exactly what happened. Rantanen and the Avs haven’t come to terms on a contract extension. Apparently, Colorado is done trying to get a deal done because they actually traded him to Carolina.
Frank Seravalli over at Daily Faceoff has reported that the Avalanche have traded Rantanen to Colorado. Oh, and somehow the Canes are also adding Taylor Hall.
After a good chunk of time, the full details of the trade finally came out. Seravalli was first again with the officially official news and it looks like this.
To Canes: Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall
To Avs: Martin Necas, Jack Drury, 2025 2nd Round Pick, 2026 4th Round Pick (all from Carolina)
To Blackhawks: 2025 3rd Round Pick (their own returned from Carolina), 50% of Rantanen’s salary
People can say whatever they want. This trade comes down to this. Leon Draistaitl extended with the Oilers for a $14 million AAV. Rantanen obviously felt he deserved that. The only problem is Nathan MacKinnon is extended for $12.6 million AAV. The Avalanche don’t want anyone making more than MacKinnon and once Rantanen wouldn’t budge, they did what they had to do. Clearly, Necas + was intriguing enough for them to bite in fear that they would lose Rantanen for nothing on the open market.
Which, in theory makes sense. Minus the fact that the salary cap is expected to climb past $100 million two years from now and Cale Makar needs an extension. Are you going to trade him too when that time comes? When you consider that, their theory doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Good for Carolina. This was bold and aggressive. Something they haven’t been in the past.
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