Hurricanes acquire Rantanen from Avs, Hall from Blackhawks in 3-team trade

The Carolina Hurricanes acquired forward Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and forward Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-team trade on Friday evening.

As part of the deal, the Canes traded forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, along with a second-round pick in this year's draft and a fourth-rounder in 2026, to the Avalanche.

The Blackhawks regained a third-round pick for the current year's draft and took on half of Rantanen's salary.

The 28-year-old Rantanen, a two-time 100-point scorer who set an Avs record with 55 goals in the 2022-2023 season, is the key player involved in the trade. He had spent his entire NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche after being selected 10th overall in the 2015 draft, but was likely to become an unrestricted free agent next season following disagreements over a new contract with the team.

This is one of the top power forwards in our league," Carolina General Manager Eric Tulsky said in a statement. "It's well known that we wanted to add a player with elite ability to our lineup, and this player should be a good fit for our team and its culture. And with Taylor on board, we now have another high-skilled player to add to our offense.

This marked the second consecutive year Carolina made a major move to strengthen a playoff team that has made the playoffs six years in a row, with two Eastern Conference Final appearances, and is now looking to reach its first Stanley Cup Final in this current streak.

Rantanen, who carries a $9.25 million cap hit for this season, is joining a team that currently ranks second in its conference with 63 points, falling behind conference leader Washington with 71 points.

Carolina also added a former Hart Trophy winner in Gabriel Hall this past off-season. Hall, who is now 33 years old, required right knee surgery last season and missed significant time due to the procedure. Prior to his injury, Hall sat as the 1st overall pick in the 2010 draft. During the 2017-18 season, Hall tallied 39 goals and 54 assists for New Jersey and subsequently won the Hart Trophy for being the NHL's most valuable player.

Hall, who is being paid $6 million this year with free agency looming, has nine goals and 15 assists in 46 games.

This marks the end of Necas' time with the team that originally drafted him in the first round in 2017. The 26-year-old, a skilled offensive player who has scored 16 goals and 39 assists for a team-high 55 points this year, signed a two-year, $13 million contract in July to spare him from an arbitration hearing.

The 24-year-old Drury, a former second-round draft pick, scored 15 goals in 153 regular-season games for Carolina.

Carolina picked up rights to forward prospect Nils Juntorp in the deal, which happens as the NHL approaches its 4-countries tournament break. There's also just over a month left before the league's trade deadline on March 7.

Clubs are trying to get ahead of the trade deadline with several close races in both conferences. Trade rumors are intensifying, particularly regarding Vancouver's potential acquisition of forward J.T. Miller.

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