RALEIGH — One of the first things I mentioned to Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky after he acquired Mikko Rantanen in a blockbuster trade about six weeks ago was that an executive’s tenure with a team is often defined by one move, and this could be the one for him.
One has to assume Tulsky hopes that doesn’t end up being the case.
The Hurricanes flipped Mikko Rantanen to the Dallas Stars hours before Friday’s NHL trade deadline for Logan Stankoven, two first round picks and two third round picks, the latest chapter in a saga that saw Carolina deal away Martin Necas and Jack Drury to Colorado with the hopes of inking a superstar player to a long-term contract.
Instead, the Hurricanes are back at square one.
There will be plenty of discourse about what Carolina did wrong in the move to acquire of Rantanen — giving up Necas, not having assurances that Rantanen would sign an extension and again failing to close the deal in negotiations with a top player — but there was no denying that Rantanen couldn’t pull back on a Hurricanes’ sweater after what transpired in the 36 hours before the deadline.
Regardless, Tulsky said the Hurricanes will continue to take chances in an effort to improve the team.
“We do want to stay aggressive, though,” Tulsky said during a press conference Friday afternoon. “And if the team hasn’t gotten to where it wants to be yet, you need to keep taking these chances and try to position yourself so that enough of them work out that you keep moving forwards and eventually get to where you want to be.”
Rantanen was reportedly offered more than $100 million to extend with Carolina, but he told the team he would not be prepared to agree to a new contract before the trade deadline.
“I think at the time, obviously, I had to look at all the options because there was no deal when the trade happened,” Rantanen said during an interview with TSN after he agreed to an eight-year, $96 million deal with the Stars. “I was kind of in a situation where I had to really think about my life for a long period of time — not only on ice but also off the ice.”
While the simplest path would have been to keep Rantanen past the trade deadline, continue negotiations and hope the 28-year-old boosted Carolina’s chances at winning a Stanley Cup this year, Tulsky — who had been receiving unsolicited calls for contenders about Rantanen — decided to do his due diligence on the trade market.
Then came Thursday morning, with Rantanen refusing to speak to the media following the morning skate and further raising speculation that his time in Raleigh could be coming to an end.
“Rantanen Watch” was in full effect, and all eyes were on the Hurricanes’ bench as players emerged for warmups before that night’s game to see if the Finnish winger would be playing ahead of Friday’s deadline.
Rantanen did emerge, but he never seemed to mentally show up for the game. The Hurricanes sleepwalked through much of their game against the Bruins but still emerged with a 3-2 win. Coach Rod Brind’Amour and players Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho all admitted the noise surrounding Rantanen and the trade deadline had weighed on the team.
“It’s tough. I wish I could say it isn’t,” Jarvis said after the game. “It’s hard on everybody. But we’ve got, what, 24 hours until all this is done? And I think that’s what a lot of people are waiting for is just for the noise to be gone and we can really focus on ourselves. But yeah, it’s part of the job and it’s part of being a professional, but it is tough.”
Rumors of a trade to Dallas emerged after midnight Friday, and Carolina allowed Rantanen to speak to the Stars about a contract extension to facilitate a trade.
The deal was finally officially announced shortly after 5 p.m., and the Hurricanes — hamstrung by the negotiations dragging on between the Stars and Rantanen — made only one other minor deal, acquiring depth forward Mark Jankowski from Nashville for a fifth round pick.
The aftermath sets Carolina’s roster for the rest of the season, though Tulsky did seem optimistic star prospect Alexander Nikishin could join the team as soon as his KHL season is over. Even without Necas and Rantanen, Tulsky still believes he has a contender.
“I think this is a very strong team,” Tulsky said. “It’s obviously not a perfect team. I don’t think there is a perfect team.”
The road to this year’s Stanley Cup, however, certainly got more difficult for the Hurricanes with the subtraction of Rantanen and the arms race that took place among many other contenders. Still, Carolina is in line to host its opening round playoff series, and a potential second round series against the division-leading Capitals isn’t a bad matchup on paper.
And Tulsky and the Hurricanes will have flexibility after this season. Stankoven — the slick, undersized forward with 15 goals and 43 points in 82 career games — just turned 22 and will be under team control for the foreseeable future. The team now has six first round picks in the next four seasons (Dallas’ firsts in 2026 and 2028, both with top-10 protection that would push the picks to the following year, came in the Rantanen deal) and also added thirds in 2026 and 2027.
Furthermore, Carolina will be loaded with cap space — somewhere in the neighborhood of $37 million — with 12 skaters and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov on one-way deals plus Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Nikishin all in line for roster spots. Fellow prospects Bradly Nadeau, Scott Morrow and Felix Unger Sorum aren’t far behind, so the Hurricanes will have both available youth and the ability to target high-priced players via trade or free agency.
Yet on Thursday, there’s no denying that Carolina took a step back in its pursuit of a championship in 2025.
“If you only make moves when you’re 100% sure you know exactly how it’s going to work out, “Tulsky said, “you’re going to miss some opportunities to make the team better. That’s not what we want to do.”
