The Dallas Stars managed to not only snag the best deadline day acquisition of the season, but one of the best wingers in the NHL when they announced a sign-and-trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen.

The trade deadline ended at 2 p.m. CST and made by far the biggest splash to sign the big Finnish winger who had spent his entire career with Colorado before getting traded out of seemingly nowhere earlier this season.

Late last night it was announced that the Stars and the Carolina Hurricanes had completed the framework for a trade for Rantanen, but the deal was contingent on whether the Stars and Rantanen could come to an agreement for a contract extension. If they could not get a contract done with the pending unrestricted free agent, there would be no deal for what would equate to merely a rental for this season.

Conflicting reports throughout the day questioned whether or not Rantanen was going to accept the offer that the Stars presented him, but it seemed that the Stars were firm in the number they were offering. Several hours later, the news broke that the eight-year contract offer with a $12 million AAV was accepted by Rantanen and his camp.

The return for one of the top goal scorers in the league included Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, two third-round picks and some "smaller pieces" that still have yet to be disclosed at the time of publication. The return came as a bit of a surprise, as some thought the superstar would demand a higher return, and others were surprised at the willingness of Nill to discard two more first round picks after already committing one to an earlier trade this season. But the Hurricanes hands were tied on exactly what they could ask for because Rantanen had to agree to be traded again, and had cherry-picked which teams he would sign with long term.

As previously mentioned, Rantanen was already traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the Hurricanes on Jan. 25th. The star forward was part of a three-team deal that included Chicago's Taylor Hall joining Rantanen in Carolina, Martin Necas and Jack Drury heading from the Canes to the Avs, as well as a few other picks and prospects. The trade did not go the way Carolina had hoped, however. In 13 games in Carolina, Rantanen had just six points.

Rantanen is coming off two 100+ point seasons with Colorado and will add to the already deep Stars forward group. He will surely be the right winger alongside Jason Robertson and fellow Finn Roope Hintz that the two have been lacking since the retirement of Joe Pavelski.

Rantanen also has 101 points in 81 career playoff games, which Dallas is hoping can help them get over the hump and hopefully bring home the Stanley Cup this summer.

It is clear that General Manager Jim Nill feels like this year is THE year for the Stars to finally win it all. Nill has usually been hesitant to trade first rounders, but in the last six weeks, he has since committed three first-round picks - two for Rantanen and one to San Jose in the trade that landed Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci in early February.

While the price was high, Rantanen is locked in for the next eight seasons and immediately becomes part of the core of the team that is built to win not just this year, but for seasons to come. And with the salary cap increasing pretty significantly next year, the time to get an expensive deal like this done is now, as the elite players will only demand more and more money moving forward.

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