Avs GM Gives His Perspective On Blockbuster Mikko Rantanen Trade

The Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks, and Carolina Hurricanes teamed up to shock the hockey world with a blockbuster three-team trade that sent Avs star Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes in exchange for Martin Necas, while Chicago helped facilitate the deal by taking on some of Rantanen's salary and sent ex-MVP Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes as well.

The trade seemed to come out of nowhere, despite Rantanen being in the last year of his current deal and instantly showed that the Canes mean business when it comes to fighting the Stanley Cup this season.

Avs general manager Chris MacFarland talked about how hard it was to deal a player that was a big piece of the team's 2022 Cup-winning squad.

"I think it was just a tough business decision here for us," MacFarland explained on Saturday, per the Associated Press. "I felt that the pieces we got made sense to strike now."

It can be a tough business, and this decision didn't reportedly sit well with Rantanen who didn't see this deal coming like the rest of us.

MacFarland indicated that the team felt like this was the right move given negotiations with Rantanen were going to be tricky seeing as he'd have the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

"It hurts, right. He’s a home-grown talent. He’s a superstar person, he’s a superstar human being," MacFarland said. "I think that’s sports, right. We’re going talk about it, people are going to talk about it. Your heartstrings get tugged. That’s why we all do this.

"He’s that good of a hockey player. ... He had the UFA card and we felt this is what we had to do."

While you'd think MacFarland was on his way to a funeral with those comments, Hurricanes GM seemed a bit more fired up about the deal.

"There are not many trades that are bigger in a year than Mikko Rantanen changing teams,’' Tulsky said. "We came into this year with not very much cap space, and we’ve worked very hard with our roster to build up what we could to have the opportunity to take advantage if something like this came along."

It'll be fascinating to see how this move pans out for both sides and maybe even more interesting to see where Rantanen winds up signing once this season wraps up.