UPDATE (12:30 p.m. March 7) Per Elliotte Friedman, Mikko Rantanen has agreed to an eight-year, $12 million AAV contract extension with the Dallas Stars paving the way for him to be traded.
It was clear that Rantanen didn't want to be in Carolina, as he reportedly turned down a nine-figure offer from the Canes, and at the end of the day, you just can't have players in the room that don't want to be there.
Now we wait and see what the final return will be.
UPDATE - Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars Deal For Mikko Rantanen At Impasse (10:30 a.m. March 7): It seems like the deal with the Dallas Stars involving Mikko Rantanen has fallen through as the latter has not agreed to an extension with the Stars yet.
It was reported last night that the Carolina Hurricanes and Stars had the framework of a deal in place to send Rantanen to Texas, but it all hinged on him agreeing to an extension with the Stars.
However, it seems that things haven't worked out between the two sides either and now Carolina is starting to explore other avenues.
Dallas has permission to talk with Rantanen and his camp, so perhaps they'll be able to bridge the divide by 3 p.m. today, but as of now, the deal doesn't seem imminent.
ORIGINAL - Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars Working On Mikko Rantanen Trade (1:30 a.m. March 7): The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly trading star winger Mikko Rantanen to the Dallas Stars, according to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman.
The Canes swung for the fences when they acquired the 28-year-old winger in January for Martin Necas, Jack Drury and a couple of draft picks, but it seems like things just didn't pan out like they had hoped.
In Rantanen, Carolina was hoping to finally land that superstar talent that they'd been lacking.
The Finnish superstar was coming off of back-to-back 100+ point seasons and was also a proven playoff performer.
However, things just never quite clicked between the two parties as the forward had just two goals and six points in 13 games with the Hurricanes and the power play was looking as bad as ever.
Despite that, he was still generating a ton of looks with his new team.
Since joining the Hurricanes, Rantanen had led them in CF% (63.07%) while also having a 60.71 HDCF% and 59.84 xGF%.
He looked like a very effective player and it seemed like just more of a matter of when for him, but it was also starting to become clear that he didn't want to be in Carolina.
Rantanen had reportedly been offered a nine-figure deal by the Canes some time around the 4 Nations tournament, which would have probably made him the highest paid winger in the NHL, but he would not commit to the Hurricanes despite that.
And if he didn't want to be in Raleigh, the Hurricanes probably felt it was best to move him.
You could also tell from his body language and play in Thursday's game against the Boston Bruins, that his heart just wasn't in it.
He refused to make himself available to the media before and after the game and here's what his former coach and teammates had to say about him prior to the trade:
"Every year we talk about [the deadline], but this one is just obviously much... because of certain circumstances and who we're talking about and everything,' said Rod Brind'Amour. "Since [Rantanen] got here, it's been pretty tough. Tonight, I think was probably the toughest."
"I care about him, care about this team, care about this organization," said Sebastian Aho. "We're all aware of what's being said. You hear all the noise and all of that stuff. But I just try to be there for him and pull the same rope here as a group and let all the other people do the talking."
Now we wait and see what the Hurricanes are getting in return.
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