Mikko Rantanen could be on the move again, even after Hurricanes' blockbuster trade

The Carolina Hurricanes shook up the NHL when they acquired Mikko Rantanen in a deal with the Colorado Avalanche. Sure, it wasn't Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, but Rantanen is a bona fide superstar. It's incredibly rare to see a player of his caliber traded in the NHL, especially when that player is on a team seriously contending for a Stanley Cup like the Avalanche.

The deal made some sense for Colorado as they were unlikely to extend Rantanen, a superstar slated to hit unrestricted free agency after the year, so they wanted to get something for him. Acquiring Martin Necas who has four goals and nine points in his first eight games with Colorado along with Jack Drury, a solid two-way forward, wasn't awful by any means, even if it meant parting with the clear best player in the deal.

By acquiring Rantanen, it was assumed that the Hurricanes were more than comfortable paying him whatever he wanted to ensure he'd be in Carolina for the foreseeable future. Trading multiple years of Necas and Drury to get him only to lose him months later, especially after last offseason's Jake Guentzel debacle, would be a brutal outcome.

It turns out, though, that Rantanen's future in Carolina is far from secure, according to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos.

“The word I’m getting is that [the Hurricanes] were willing to make this trade, but I’m not sure they were willing to watch another top player walk out the door for nothing,” Kypreos said on Friday’s episode of Real Kyper & Bourne, referring to the Canes swinging big for Jake Guentzel at last year’s deadline, before watching him sign in Tampa Bay as a free agent soon after. “Especially when you consider that [Martin] Necas is a very good hockey player, who had another year at $6.5 million — that’s a heck of an asset with tremendous value. So that’s the theory behind that. As of this week, my understanding is that there’s no significant ground, or talks, about Rantanen signing in Carolina just yet. Anything can change at any moment, but it’s going to take a big number for Carolina to lock this guy down.”

It sure sounds like Rantanen, at the very least, is not untouchable in Carolina. Wouldn't it be something to see him get dealt twice in just a matter of months?

Hurricanes could trade Mikko Rantanen soon after making blockbuster deal to acquire him

Carolina's reasoning behind potentially trading Rantanen would be the exact same as Colorado's, who did eventually move on from him. Rantanen is looking to get paid, and the Hurricanes certainly don't appear super comfortable to meet his asking price. Considering the fact that they lost Guentzel in free agency after trading for him last offseason, running the same risk with Rantanen could result in a major disaster.

The Hurricanes traded Necas, a 26-year-old averaging over a point per game in the middle of a career year with two years of control, in the deal to get Rantanen, a player who is obviously better than Necas, but is on an expiring contract. The Hurricanes would not part with multiple years of Necas in exchange for a player they think they might end up losing for nothing.

Carolina's first choice, obviously, would be to extend Rantanen and keep him with the team for the next eight years at a number that doesn't hamstring them financially. If that can't be done, they'll have no choice but to scour the trade market and see what they can get. This would be a brutal outcome for a Hurricanes team in clear Stanley Cup contention, but again, they cannot risk losing him for nothing.