It’s safe to say trade season has officially begun. After the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks made arguably the biggest

The Carolina Hurricanes traded for Mikko Rantanen on Friday night in a stunning move. It was a three-team trade between the Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks. Carolina also acquired Taylor Hall in this deal on Friday night.

Friday’s blockbuster between Colorado and Carolina served one serendipitous purpose for the NHL. And that was shifting the focus off a week of officiating scandalous even by league standards.

Rantanen is one of the NHL’s top playoff performers; he ranks fourth among active players in career playoff points per game (1.25) behind Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (1.58), Leon Draisaitl (1.46) and his now former teammate MacKinnon (1.30) and helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022.

Rantanen is an elite NHL scorer. He’s a house of man (six-foot-four, 215 pounds) who can be described as equal parts shooter and distributor. Most of his assists come off the cycle or by outmuscling opponents to extend plays in the trenches. He isn’t a massive threat off the rush, though.

The Hurricanes are loading up. Carolina acquired star right winger Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche in a three-team trade, the clubs announced on Friday night.

Connor McDavid will lead the Edmonton Oilers against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena, Denver in back-to-back games after playing the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

Mikko Rantanen is one of the NHL’s most unheralded superstars and with his contract expiring at the end of this season, an extension could become an issue for the Colorado Avalanche. Michael Amato looks at this and more.

On Friday night the hockey world came to a grinding halt, and not because of anything going on during an unusually robust four-game slate of games. The

Draisailt is making $14 million, and based on his numbers and his role with Connor McDavid, he deserved that number. Mikko Rantanen in Colorado wants the same AAV, if not higher, because of his ...

On McDavid, Bettman said Thursday, "I understand the frustration, and it's something we're going to continue to monitor."