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.
Let’s wait to evaluate the deal in which Mikko Rantanen — an impending free agent whose camp has made it known for months that the winger expects a deal that lines up with Leon Draisaitl’s eight-year, $112 million extension ($14M AAV) with Edmonton — leaves Nathan MacKinnon’s line to hook up with Sebastian Aho while Martin Necas ditches Jesperi Kotkaniemi to presumably join No. 29.
There were other parts to the deal that included Chicago GM Kyle Davidson either cleverly committing to an ongoing tank or committing a fireable offense by using his final retention spot — with $10.642M cap space available at the deadline, per PuckPedia — to act as a banker for the trade while tossing in Taylor Hall for the pittance of a third-round return.
Rantanen is a big-time player and producer, but he has been with MacKinnon for 73 percent of his five-on-five ice since joining the league in 2015-16, per NaturalStatTrick. Aho, a fellow Finn, is elite, but he is not close to MacKinnon, because nobody is other than Connor McDavid.