I would not be surprised if the CH had sounded out Mikko Rantanen

The big transaction of the day in the NHL is the one that sent Mikko Rantanen to Dallas. The winger, who only passed through Carolina, has therefore been traded for the second time in 2025.

But this time, it should be the right one considering that Rantanen has an eight-year agreement (at $12 million per year) in his pocket.

So, in the long term, Rantanen will evolve within a team that should be competitive for several years, including this season. This was probably something that Rantanen, who has been playing playoff hockey since 2018, was looking for. We’ll get back to that.

Now, what’s interesting is that in a special episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast tonight, Elliotte Friedman talked about the trade deadline… and he had this to say:

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canadiens had tested the waters for Mikko Rantanen. – Elliotte Friedman

32 Thoughts Trade Deadline Wrap

Links to your preferred platform, here: https://t.co/io7Mr1QEpm

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 8, 2025

Friedman is not convinced that the Canadiens talked to the Hurricanes in this regard (and we can doubt that the latter would have wanted to send him to another Eastern Conference team), but he knows that Rantanen avoided certain teams that were not competitive “now”.

And according to him, the Canadiens may be one of those teams.

In fact, a guy like Rantanen would have made sense for the Tricolore. Getting him this season would have been a great gift for the group, and at 28 years old, he could have been a part of the team’s future with a long-term contract. However, the Finn wanted a competitive team now… and the Canadiens are not (really) sure to make the playoffs this season.

Maybe that’s why if talks took place, they didn’t advance to a particularly critical stage.

That being said, we’re talking about a link that, fundamentally, makes sense. And if it had materialized, it would have been a big topic of conversation in town… but in the end, he’s in Dallas, far from Montreal.

Extension

Note that in the podcast, Friedman talked about teams that, in his opinion, may try to make big moves this summer. He mentioned Utah as a team that, in the eyes of many, may be looking to land big names… but he also placed the Canadiens in that category.

And with Ivan Demidov arriving, maybe suddenly, players will no longer place the Canadiens in the category of teams that are “not competitive now”, but rather in the category of competitive teams, period. That could also change the situation… and it could help the club attract a top-6 center, a need in town right now.