NHL Insider Reports Maple Leafs, Stars, Kings Lead as Front Runners in Mikko Rantanen Sweepstakes
The Mikko Rantanen saga continues to make headlines throughout the hockey world as the market for the Finnish superstar is starting to take form.
It was reported Wednesday that the Carolina Hurricanes were starting to gauge the market on the 28-year-old winger. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman expanded on the reports by mentioning that the list of interested teams is disjointed but teams that were notably interested were the Maple Leafs, Stars and Kings.
On FanDuel Sportsbook, they have +230 odds posted for Rantanen to get dealt at the trade deadline and this may be starting to look like a promising bet, considering how much teams will be dying to get him.
You may be wondering how so many notable contenders are able to bring in Rantanen considering teams like Toronto have almost no cap space?
The Blackhawks retained 50 per cent of Rantanen's salary when he was traded to Carolina, reducing his current cap hit to $4.63 million and if a team can convince the Hurricanes to use one of their remaining retention spots, they could retain another 50 per cent of his contract, lowering his cap hit to as little as $2.3 million.
Almost any team will be willing to take on that contract as a rental option, considering Rantanen is widely considered a top ten to 15 player in the NHL.
A trade for him is certainly a possibility with contending teams desperate to win a Stanley Cup and could easily come up with several competitive offers that should culminate in a blockbuster trade.
Rantanen has recorded just six points in the 12 games since joining the Hurricanes in late January. He has surpassed the 100-point mark in each of the last two seasons but is projected to surpass the 90-point mark in what would be his fourth season in a row.
Other possible teams interested would be the Devils, Golden Knights and the Panthers as they are all Stanley Cup contenders that would love to add a player of Rantanen's caliber.