Another entry in the Hurricanes Notebook just six weeks after the last entry, all on account of Mikko Rantanen. In the last entry, I looked at the Carolina Hurricanes acquisition of Mikko Rantanen. Then the Canes flipped Rantanen to the Dallas Stars at the 2025 trade deadline. So here we are again.
There are a number of Teambuilding Tenets a play within these two trades, so let’s explore.
Rantanen, the Canes and the Teambuilding Tenets
Let’s start by recapping a couple of key points from the previous post on Carolina’s acquisition of Rantanen. At the time, I really liked the acquisition by the Hurricanes and a big reason why was they took a big swing (Teambuilding Tenet #5 – Swing Big for Stars) and landed a weapon that I thought could level up their offense. It was a move that made them better now and added a weapon that I thought gave them a better chance to win in the later rounds of the playoffs. Secondarily, they had enough future cap space to consider an extension with Rantanen (Teambuilding Tenet #7 – Flexibility is Important).
As we know now, the Hurricanes were interested in signing Rantanen to that extension but Rantanen was not. That drove Carolina to move him again at the deadline and they got an absolute haul for him from the Stars. Clearly, that was preferable for Canes management rather than losing him for nothing this summer or trying to move him for less ahead of free agency. There are a few teambuilding tenets that guide this thinking.
Teambuilding Tenet #9 – Innovate is at the heart of it. There are plenty of teams that would have added Rantanen as a rental for the 2025 playoffs. The Hurricanes weren’t satisfied with that and had their sites set on a long term plan. When the extension didn’t materialize, they pivoted to a different long term vision (Teambuilding Tenet #10 – Mistakes Happen). There are not many teams that would downgrade their roster in favor of a long term vision in that scenario. Most would see Rantanen as the equivalent of an ‘own rental’.
Finally, in pivoting, the Canes got a sizable return and effectively turned Martin Necas and Jack Drury into a 2025 playoff rental in Taylor Hall, a good young player in Logan Stankoven, and a pair of first round draft picks. Necas had been rumored to be on the block for some time and clearly didn’t fit in the Hurricanes long term plan. In aggregate, they got younger and added some high quality future assets (Teambuilding Tenet #8).
The pivot to move on from Rantanen once it was clear he had no interest in an extension in Raleigh fits a mittful of the teambuilding tenets. I have one big reservation with the move though, and it hits another teambuilding tenet.
Teambuilding Tenet #1 is Elite Teams are Driven by Elite Players. I’m not convinced the Hurricanes have those players. As a group, they are the Corsi kings. That’s good enough to be a dominant regular season team and win a round or two most springs. It’s not good enough when the competition levels up deep in the playoffs. Rantanen is one such elite player. As much Stankoven and the two 1sts might be elite in some future season, they aren’t now and Carolina is back to being a very good team that is likely to run into scoring trouble deeper in the playoffs.
The Hurricanes moving Rantanen when he didn’t extend followed a lot of good long term teambuilding strategies. It’s become a feature in Carolina though, to the extent that it may be limiting the team’s ceiling. If the goal is to be a very good team that consistently makes the playoffs and wins a round or two, they’re crushing it. If they want a serious crack at a Stanley Cup, they may need to bend their internal process to add an elite player or two.
See also Stars Notebook 25.03.09 for a look at the Rantanen deal from the Dallas perspective.
