Rantanen lands 8-year contract with Stars as Hurricanes agree to a trade, AP source says

Mikko Rantanen is heading back to the Western Conference, and the Dallas Stars paid a big price in money and assets, agreeing to acquire the prolific playoff performer from the Carolina Hurricanes before the NHL’s trade deadline on Friday, a person briefed on the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the trade has not yet been cleared by the NHL, or announced by either team. Several media outlets, including TSN, first reported the trade.

Dallas dealt promising rookie forward Logan Stankoven and two first-round picks as part of a long-awaited, block-buster trade to acquire Rantanen. And that doesn’t include Dallas agreeing to an eight-year, $96 million contract after both the Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche failed in their attempts to sign the player to a long-term deal.

“Obviously a really good team in Carolina. … But I think just the fit in Dallas,” Rantanen told TSN of spurring the trade forward by agreeing to sign with Dallas.

“I’ve played against Dallas a lot. I know they have a good team. I know the city well enough and everything there,” he added. “So at the end of the day, it was easy. Easy decision at that point.”

The move comes just over two months after the Hurricanes acquired Rantanen from Colorado in a three-team deal that also included the Chicago Blackhawks. Carolina gave up Jack Drury, Martin Necas and two draft picks in making the trade in hopes to lock up Rantanen, who is in the final year of his six-year, $55 million contract.

Rather than risk losing the 28-year-old Rantanen for nothing in free agency this summer, the Hurricanes dealt him to Dallas and the familiar Central Division.

In Rantanen, the Stars add a proven playoff performer who played a key role in Colorado winning the Stanley Cup title in 2022. Overall, he’s combined for 101 points in 81 postseason games with eight series victories — an average seventh in league history behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Messier.

The second-place Stars made the move at the same time the NHL-leading division-rival Winnipeg Jets improved their lineup with a pair of trades. The Jets acquired forward Brandon Tanev by sending a 2027 second-round pick to Seattle. Winnipeg bolstered its blue line by adding Luke Schenn in a trade with Pittsburgh, two days after the Penguins acquired the rugged defenseman from Nashville.

And Colorado wasn’t standing pat after acquiring veteran center Brock Nelson in a trade with the New York Islanders late Thursday night. The Avalanche reportedly got Charlie Coyle from the Boston Bruins.

Meantime, the Ottawa Senators acquired Buffalo forward Dylan Cozens to help boost their late-season playoff hopes in a four-player deal involving two Atlantic Division rivals.

In adding Cozens, a 2019 first-round pick, defenseman Dennis Gilbert and a 2026 second-round pick, Ottawa dealt center Josh Norris and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Eastern Conference’s last-place Sabres. Norris was a first-round pick in 2017 and Bernard-Docker a first-round selection the following draft.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong called it “a massive hockey trade.”

The Senators are making the push under two years into Michael Andlauer’s ownership and seeking to end a seven-season playoff drought.

Cozens, 24, is the key to the deal for Ottawa, which entered Friday holding the East’s eighth and final playoff berth. Since scoring a career-best 31 goals in 2022-23, Cozens has struggled in combining for 29 goals over his past two seasons, which coincided with him signing a seven-year, $49.7 million contract.

Much like Cozens, Norris’ production has dropped since he scored a career-best 35 goals in 2021-22. He’s combined for just 38 goals over the past three seasons and in the third year of an eight-year, $63.6 million contract.

Bernard-Docker, 24, has appeared in just 129 NHL games over the past five seasons, and has a goal and four points in 25 outings this year. Gilbert is a physical defenseman who has played a bit role in Buffalo, with five assists in 25 games this year.

The Hurricanes will have to proceed without Rantanen, who had two goals and six points in 13 games with Carolina, which sits second in the Metropolitan Division.

In other moves:

— Columbus got some center depth by acquiring Luke Kunin from San Jose for a fourth-round draft pick.

— The Flyers dealt veteran forward Scott Laughton to Toronto and agreed to retain 50% of his salary for rookie forward Nikita Grebenkin and a conditional 2027 first-round pick. Philadelphia also traded Andrei Kuzmenko with a seventh-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for a third-rounder, five weeks after acquiring him from Calgary in a multiplayer deal.

— The Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals made their first move ahead of the deadline by acquiring winger Anthony Beauvillier from rival Pittsburgh for a 2025 second-round pick.

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