Colorado Avalanche fleeced desperate Hurricanes in Rantanen deal

The Colorado Avalanche fleeced a desperate Carolina Hurricanes club in the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster trade.

The Avalanche lost one of the team’s most renowned and productive players in recent history. Very few players have donned the Avalanche jersey like Mikko Rantanen has. However, the Avalanche were faced with a tough decision: Keep Nathan MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen.

I know that sounds harsh. But the fact is that the Avalanche had an internal cap limiting how much they were willing to pay Rantanen. As I outlined back on January 13, the Avalanche were not going to pay more than $12.6 million per season or the equivalent of MacKinnon’s cap hit.

Insider Elliotte Friedman confirmed this assumption on Saturday Headlines during the second intermission of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. As such, the Avalanche had no choice but to ship out Rantanen instead of losing him for nothing.

Enter the desperate Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canes are seven points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metro Division, with the New Jersey Devils nipping at their heels, two points behind. The Columbus Blue Jackets have also made a run of late, quietly closing the gap on Carolina.

Additionally, last year’s loss of deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel stung. The Canes were hoping to keep Guentzel as the team sorely needed a top-six scoring winger. Guentzel didn’t re-sign in Carolina, preferring to join the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So, this was a move the Carolina Hurricanes needed to make. As Friedman pointed out, the Hurricanes were in on Vancouver Canucks’ forward Elias Pettersson. The price was likely too high and the Canes pounced on Rantanen.

But as I will outline herein, the Avalanche fleeced the Hurricanes by the return they got for Rantanen.