The Real Winner Of The Carolina Hurricanes Ill-Fated Mikko Rantanen Trade Isn't Who You Might Think

There have been plenty of bad trades in the National Hockey League's history. 

One that always comes to mind is the infamous one-for-one trade that saw the Edmonton Oilers ship former No. 1 pick Taylor Hall to New Jersey in exchange for D-man Adam Larsson. Hall went on to win the Hart Trophy in 2018 as a Devil.

While it may not top a list of terrible trades, the Carolina Hurricanes deal for Mikko Rantanen (which coincidentally was a three-team deal that also saw them acquire the aforementioned Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks) is certainly on it.

Rantanen was dealt to the Dallas Stars ahead of Friday's trade deadline after agreeing to a contract extension with the team, meaning Carolina was the big loser in that original trade, which saw Rantanen lace 'em up for just 13 games and register 6 points.

However, his now-former teammate Jack Roslovic.

Why? Because when the Canes acquired Rantanen, he wanted to wear the No. 96, which he had worn in Colorado. The only problem was that this was Roslovic's number.

No biggie. Usually, there's some kind of exchange to get the number and, in this case, Rantanen gifted Roslovic a rare Rolex watch and a custom 925-silver chain that Rantanen got for him thanks to a connection in his native Finland, per The Hockey News.

Well, with Rantanen now in Dallas, Roslovic has swapped back to his old number.

That's right. After a little over a dozen games wearing No. 98, Roslovic is back to his normal No. 96, and he gets to keep the Rolex and the chain to boot!

I mean, there's plenty of talk about how badly the Hurricanes have mismanaged their assets in recent years after a couple of splashy trades for Rantanen this season and Jake Guentzel this season didn't pan out for them long-term.

So maybe Jack Roslovic needs to start making deals for them, seeing as he was the big winner in this trade.