Insider: Hurricanes “Could Have Offered Rantanen $20M… He Was Never Going to Stay”

3 weeks ago  /  NHL Trade Rumors  /  Read Time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Despite the optics, it sounds like the Carolina Hurricanes made a good decision to flip Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline. Even though he hadn't given them a 'yes' or a 'no' to their long-term extension offer, the superstar forward was not going to be re-signing in Carolina. That's the word from insider Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, on the Kyper & Bourne Show. No matter your thoughts of Kypreos, this guy has been plugged in on the Rantanen situation all season. He's the only one out there earlier in the year that put the then-Colorado Avalanche superstar on a trade board. Then shortly after the trade with Carolina, he suggested that the Hurricanes could very well flip him. So say what you want about Kyper, he's been right all along on Rantanen. Now he offers this:He was never going to sign in Carolina... It was never in the cards... Some people were saying 'he's gonna stay, he's gonna learn to love this place, and he's gonna get a great offer.' They could have offered him $20 million (AAV), and he was not staying there. But why so certain that Rantanen would never stay in Raleigh? Kypreos has an answer for that, too:"Not a place, not a fit...He didn't wanna stay. Not sure if it was even a good fit with (coach) Rod Brind'Amour. It was a multiple amount of reasons."Rantanen had just six points in 13 games in his Hurricanes stint, while getting about three minutes less ice time per night than he was used to.  "But this is where Carolina dropped the ball," continued Kypreos. "They just were, let's say, arrogant enough to think that, 'Let's build it and they will come,' and it doesn't work that way."He even indicated that the Hurricanes hedged their bets when they acquired him from the Avalanche, getting the Chicago Blackhawks in on the deal to retain 50% of Rantanen's original $9.25M cap hit. That made this trade with Dallas that much easier to pull off. And for Rantanen, it didn't take long for him to adjust to the Stars, posting a goal and an assist in his first game with his third team of the season, while soaring back up to his usual 22 minutes of ice time level. Photo: © Perry Nelson-Imagn Images...

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