Mikko Rantanen Rejected Landing With The LA Kings?

Mikko Rantanen Rejected Landing With The LA Kings?

Mikko Rantanen has no interest in playing in sunny California? That turns out to be exactly what happened. Rantanen was ultimately traded to the Stars where he signed an extension but prior to that, the Kings pursued the Finnish winger heavily. Ultimately, they were told he wouldn’t stay there long term.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli had this to say on a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE:

Los Angeles had a quiet deadline but they were serious about Mikko Rantanen. Where do they sit going forward?

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Daily Faceoff Live | @tyleryaremchuk, @frank_seravalli pic.twitter.com/yD14qs4rJl

— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) March 12, 2025

“I think it probably came down to fit. I’ll give you some background. The Kings were extremely interested in Mikko Rantanen. But once they found out that he was not willing to re-sign in Los Angeles, and got a no, they withdrew themselves from consideration. First off, I think they were offended that Rantanen didn’t want to play in Los Angeles. I mean, who doesn’t want to live in California? But, the other part of it being, like, ‘Hey, look. We want to make a splash, but we can’t also just invent players on the marketplace.’ So, I understand why you might look at that team and think,”

“Could they have used a Brock Boeser to inject into their mix?’ And I get it, but it’s not like Boeser at this point in the season is also lighting the world on fire. So, you can’t manufacture players that are perfect fits for your team. You can only take a swing on what is actually out there. Were there other things that the Kings got up to? I didn’t hear about them. Not to say that that didn’t happen, but you can’t also force a square peg into a round hole. It’s easy to be critical, but who would you have liked to see as the fit?”

Mikko Rantanen Is A Home Run Acquisition By The Dallas Stars

While shocking on the surface, I don’t really think this should be viewed as surprising. There’s one big factor Frank didn’t mention while going on that rant. How about the state tax factor? No state tax in Texas. Astronomical state tax in California. Not to mention the fact that the Kings haven’t won a playoff series since Rob Blake took over eight years ago and the Stars are knocking on the door of winning a Cup.

Rantanen gave a list of four teams he was willing to stay with long term and the Kings simply weren’t one of them. If you want to check out that list… here you go.

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