Will the Carolina Hurricanes look to move Mikko Rantanen if he doesn’t want to stay there long-term?
The Fourth Period: David Pagnotta on The Latest on Carolina Hurricanes and pending UFA Mikko Rantanen. Will Rantanen want to stay in Carolina, and would they move if they don’t think he does?
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
Kate Pettersen: “All right. Well, one more thing I want to ask you about, Carolina, Mikko Rantanen. Obviously, huge deal to get him, but it’s kind of cool down in terms of us hearing that there is a long-term future, and we do know that it’s not going to be about the money. So what’s going on there? Are they having trouble kind of figuring out the waters with, with signing him long-term?”
Pagnotta: “It certainly sounds in the chatter over the last few days around Four Nations, there’s a lot of talks surrounding his, his future, and it not likely being in Raleigh. Now, things can certainly change, and this is a lot of speculative talk.
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But it is important to note, and you mentioned it, it is important to note that money won’t be the factor here. Carolina is willing to give him the big bucks that he’s looking for, in that $14 million range. So that’s not an issue.
It really is going to come down to Mikko Rantanen being comfortable staying there long-term. And there are a lot of people around the league, there’s a lot of chatter among teams that they’re doubting that that’s the case.
Now, obviously nothing is done until it’s done, but if that does occur, if that’s the notion that Carolina gets, they will explore the market on him to recoup the assets that they gave up to get him. No guarantee they pull the trigger on it, and no guarantee he doesn’t sign. But a lot of the chatter right now that I can tell you around Four Nations has been his future in Raleigh up in the air. So we’ll keep tabs on that.”
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