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Mikko Rantanen : the Oilers came very close to acquiring (and signing) him
Félix Forget
Mikko Rantanen : the Oilers came very close to acquiring (and signing) him
Credit: Getty Images
The Mikko Rantanen saga is finally over in Carolina. The forward, who had been acquired from the Avalanche in January, was finally traded to the Stars yesterday… after playing only 13 games in Carolina.

And it didn’t even take 24 hours for Jack Roslovic to take back his #96 in Carolina.

In the end, it’s in Dallas that Rantanen will continue his career. We know that the Maple Leafs tried to acquire him, but the Hurricanes didn’t want to send him to a playoff team in the East.

Now, we know that other teams were in the running… and according to Ryan Rishaug (TSN), there is a team that came very close to getting Rantanen and signing him to a long-term deal for more money than the $96 million offered by the Stars.

And the team in question… is the Edmonton Oilers.

We know that yesterday morning, negotiations between Rantanen and the Stars didn’t seem to be advancing, so the Hurricanes had to discuss with other teams. We can think that it’s at that moment that discussions with the Oilers, a competitive team this season (as Rantanen wanted) started to progress.

In the end, that being said, the Oilers didn’t have the ammunition to interest the Hurricanes, so Rantanen took the road to Dallas. This put an end to a saga where the Hurricanes, despite the value obtained, were still losers.

And what’s interesting is that in the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman reported an interesting piece of information: the transaction that sent Rantanen to Carolina possibly occurred due to a negotiation game between the Avalanche and the player’s camp.

In fact, the Hurricanes were able to talk to the player before the transaction, and they liked what they heard. However, the player’s camp believed it was a negotiation tactic by the Avalanche… so we can think that Rantanen “lied” to force the Avalanche’s hand, which rather traded him.

This means that the initial transaction possibly resulted from a huge misunderstanding. Rantanen showed an openness to going to Carolina to force the Avalanche’s hand… which, seeing that he was “open” to going to Raleigh, sent him to Carolina.

This explains why Rantanen said he was caught off guard by the transaction even though he had spoken to the Hurricanes before… and why the Hurricanes went to get him even though the player had no real interest in signing there long-term: the team was convinced that was the case.

I have the impression that following all this, Rantanen is perhaps not exactly satisfied with the work of his agent. And he’s so unpopular in Carolina that even the governor of North Carolina took a shot at him on social media.

That being said, we came close to seeing Rantanen play alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton, and that with a big contract in his pocket for the three guys.

That would have been something.


In rapid fire

– Jacob Fowler gets a shutout to conclude his regular season. He got seven in 32 starts.

– A good first game for Dylan Cozens with the Senators. Unfortunately for the CH, the Senators beat the Rangers… in overtime.

– Well done.

– Erik Johnson is grateful to be back in Colorado.

– A tough blow for the Yankees.

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