The chips have been pushed in.
The Carolina Hurricanes have officially acquired star winger Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and veteran winger Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks in a league-shaking three-team trade, the team announced Friday night.
The Hurricanes are sending Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the Avalanche along with a 2025 second round pick and a 2026 fourth rounder, while the Blackhawks are getting their own 2025 third round selection back from the Hurricanes.
The news broke earlier Friday night when Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that the Hurricanes had picked up Rantanen in what promised to be an earthquake of a deal.
Apology: Jesperi Kotkaniemi is not part of the deal to Colorado. Lots flying around.
Martin Necas and Jack Drury are the two roster players going from Carolina.
Mikko Rantanen to Carolina with Taylor Hall.
Chicago retains $ and gets a 3rd round pick back.
More moving parts…
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 25, 2025
Emily Kaplan of ESPN later reported that the Avalanche would also be receiving the 2025 2nd round pick and 2026 4th round pick in the move.
Rantanen is a 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent who has spent the entirety of his career in Colorado since going 10th overall in the 2015 draft.
To this point in the season, he has 25 goals, 39 assists, and 64 points, which is good for sixth in the league.
For Hall’s part, the 2010 first overall pick struggled to find his grove with the rebuilding Blackhawks, but he’s still a productive player at this stage in his career, potting 9 goals and dishing out 15 assists far this year.
Hall is also a pending unrestricted free agent, but he should be able to carve out a role in a way that could provide the Hurricanes with some much needed help on the second power play unit.
This is obviously a monumental shakeup to the team’s forward group, and it represents a a major opportunity for general manager Eric Tulsky to put his stamp on this roster moving forward if he can convince Rantanen and his representation to forego free agency with a long-term contract extension.