It appears the Toronto Maple Leafs came a lot closer to making the headlining move of the day than originally anticipated. If the Carolina Hurricanes’ initial acquisition of Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche wasn’t a shocking and unprecedented enough story, the saga involving the Finnish superstar at the NHL Trade Deadline that followed was the main event.

The Leafs were one of a handful of teams in on Rantanen until the very end, and according to Sportsnet radio personality Nick Kypreos, the Hurricanes said no to what would have been a bone-shaking proposal from the Leafs, involving their top two prospects and next two first-round picks.

“The Leafs had [Fraser] Minten, [Easton] Cowan as I understand it, and two firsts on the table,” Kypreos revealed. “That was the big move. Carolina said no on the thought that they could meet the Leafs and Rantanen down the road in the playoffs. They went out west. They did not want to run into Rantanen, they did not want to run into the Toronto Maple Leafs, they pushed him out west.”

Kypreos was then pressed for more details by co-host Justin Bourne and producer Sam McKee, in which he shared that the Leafs had a hefty contract offer on the table for Rantanen.

“I believe that the Leafs were willing to spend between either $105 or $110 million on an eight-year deal for Rantanen,” Kypreos continued. “We’re in the ballpark of $13 (million). They were all in on getting this guy until Carolina said ‘no, we’re going to Dallas’.”

The Hurricanes paid a hefty price to acquire Rantanen, but lost the plot when they weren’t able to agree to a contract extension with him. The end result was a nonstop carousel of questions regarding his value, who he would extend with, whether or not the Hurricanes would hold onto him, you name it. In the end, he ended up going to the Stars with an eight-year, $96 million extension for the steep price of Logan Stankoven and two first-round picks.

What’s interesting about this speculation is the fact that it was floated with Mitch Marner still in need of a new contract this summer. If the Leafs were willing to shell out Auston Matthews-tier money for Rantanen, it could be interpreted as the Leafs being willing to invest Marner’s pool elsewhere should he price himself out of Toronto.

With or without Rantanen, the Leafs had a deadline that satisfied the vast majority of their fanbase, acquiring Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers and following that up with a shocking buzzer-beater deal for Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins, with Fraser Minten going back the other way.  They will face the Rantanen-less Avalanche for the first time, who had an active deadline of their own with the acquisitions of Brock Nelson of the New York Islanders and Charlie Coyle from the Boston Bruins.