Mikko Rantanen‘s camp and the Carolina Hurricanes will meet real soon
TSN: It’s still not known if Mikko Rantanen will want to partake in contract extension talks with the Carolina Hurricanes. Chris Johnston said that Rantanen’s camp are expected in the next few days to let the Hurricanes know how they’d like to proceed with things.
“Obviously, if the answer is they don’t want to engage in talks at this time, then he’s got to live with whatever happens. And on that side of the ledger, the Hurricanes have been talking to a number of teams. What they’ve told them so far: ‘We do not intend to trade this player. We will circle back if that changes.’
But at this point in time, Carolina is not talking trade in a serious way with the other teams. They have to figure out where Rantanen’s head is at in the first place.”
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So many if’s surrounding the Carolina Hurricanes and Mikko Rantanen situation
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: It’s hard to be patient with the deadline a week away for the Carolina Hurricanes and Mikko Rantanen to make their decisions. The Hurricanes, like the Colorado Avalanche felt, lose some control if Rantanen remained unsigned after the trade deadline. Rantanen has to decide if he’s willing to extend or not. He’s on the road a lot since the trade and hasn’t had a lot time to get familiar with living in Carolina.
If Rantanen remains unsigned and with the Hurricanes after the trade deadline, they are the only team that can sign him to an eight-year contract.
If the Hurricanes keep him past they deadline, they may have learned from a mistake they made with Jake Guentzel. They waited until only days before free agency to get to the salary that Guentzel was looking for.
If Rantanen went to free agency and was looking at $14 million, a seven-year deal would put him at $98 million. Don’t think the Hurricanes offered Rantanen close to $14 million a season, but get the sense their eight-year offer was slightly over $100 million.
Teams that might have an interest in trading for him may be holding off on other deals until there is a Rantanen-Hurricanes resolution. They won’t want to give up assets and cap space too early on the chance of missing out on Rantanen.
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Would teams that aren’t in contention this season want to get involved in the trade talks if they were able to talk extension beforehand to gauge interest? Just spitballing, but a team like the Anaheim Ducks who tried to sign Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos last offseason.
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