Toronto Maple Leafs pushing for blockbuster trade for Mikko Rantanen: report
With the NHL trade deadline set for tomorrow at 3 p.m. EST, the Toronto Maple Leafs just might have a trick or two up their sleeve.
And if the reports are true, they appear to be “very interested” in making a move for a player who’s already been rehomed once this season.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Carolina Hurricanes have “opened the door” to possibly moving on from Mikko Rantanen less than two months after acquiring him in a blockbuster deal from the Colorado Avalanche.
“Among the teams believed to be very interested are Toronto, Dallas and Los Angeles — although that’s a ridiculously incomplete list,” Friedman wrote.
Rantanen was reportedly blindsided by the late-January trade that saw him move away from the NHL team he’d spent his entire NHL career with, one with which he won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
He is in the final year of a six-year deal with a cap hit of US$9.25 million, though his current cap hit is just US$4.63 million because the Chicago Blackhawks are retaining 50 per cent of the contract via the three-team trade.
Carolina could, in fact, retain 50 per cent of Rantanen’s remaining salary, meaning that Toronto — or another team — could only end up having to pay him a cap hit of a little over US$2.3 million, prorated over the rest of the season.
In 12 games with the Hurricanes, Rantanen has put up two goals and four assists for six points.
Across his NHL career, he’s put up 289 goals and 398 assists for 687 points in 631 games. He’s coming off of back-to-back 100+ point seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24, putting up 105 and 104 points across each of the past two years.
Friedman had previously written that Toronto would likely give up any top prospects in Easton Cowan, Ben Danford, Fraser Minten, and/or their 2026 first-round pick in any major deal.
In any case, it’s a little over 24 hours before we’ll have full clarity on the Leafs’ roster for the rest of the season once the trade deadline passes.