The word “blockbuster” gets thrown around a little too often in today’s NHL, often for trades unworthy of the term, in the same way that anything might feel like a five-star meal to a starving man. But the deal that dropped on Friday night? That one deserves the title, no questions asked.

That's why the three-way deal that sent Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to Carolina, Martin Necas and Jack Drury to Colorado, and a third-round pick to Chicago is such a shocker.

Mikko Rantanen dropped a very strong message to the Colorado Avalanche shortly after being traded in an NHL blockbuster move to the Carolina Hurricanes.