<p>The hockey world was shaken to its core on Friday night following the news of the trade that sent superstar Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes from the Colorado Avalanche. If that wasn&#8217;t big enough, former first-overall pick Taylor Hall was also traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to Carolina in the same three-team trade. It was one of those trades that broke with little-to-no speculation before it beyond Colorado&#8217;s ongoing negotiations with Rantanen, who is a pending unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team this upcoming offseason.</p>
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<p>So, therein lies the question – how can we make this about the Leafs?</p>
<p>In all seriousness, there&#8217;s actually a parallel to be drawn here between Rantanen and the Maple Leafs&#8217; own star forward with a contract renewal coming up, Mitch Marner. The Maple Leafs&#8217; fourth-overall pick in 2015 has been the subject of mock trades every offseason following playoff defeat, and despite Marner&#8217;s skillset and strength on both sides of the puck, it&#8217;s a conversation that needs to be had and will be drastically shaped based on how the Leafs perform beyond the regular season in 2024-25.</p>
<p>The Leafs may not be having these conversations internally yet, but other teams around the league have taken notice of the situation, and according to DailyFaceoff&#8217;s Frank Seravalli, the Hurricanes were one of them.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe that the Carolina Hurricanes at least inquired about Mitch Marner as they were going through this process with Mikko Rantanen. I don&#8217;t know how far they got, I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s a possibility that maybe they were not a team that Marner would go to.&#8221;</p>
<p>You can take this for what it is, pure speculation, but Seravalli isn&#8217;t off-base to have belief in a Hurricanes inquiry here. Marner and Rantanen are from the same draft class and are right in line with each other from a production standpoint. He fits the mould of what they were looking to acquire, but ultimately, the Avalanche were more willing to move on from Rantanen than anybody expected. He went on to connect Marner to other star players around the league who have had their names floated.</p>
<p>&#8220;Look, they were in on Pettersson, Miller, Rantanen, I&#8217;d be very surprised if they did not at least inquire, or even more strongly than that, with the Toronto Maple Leafs about Mitch Marner.&#8221;</p>
<p>The speculation won&#8217;t take anybody very far, as Seravalli penned the chances that the Leafs trade Marner before the deadline at 20%, while co-host Ryan S. Clark came in even lower at 10%. But it&#8217;s an important trade to keep an eye on nonetheless to see how it affects other big names being floated around as we approach the deadline, whether that&#8217;s Marner or somebody else.</p>
<p>You can watch the full video below.</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Why The Colorado Avalanche Moved On From Mikko Rantanen | Frank Seravalli" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WEAydH6NY6I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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The hockey world was shaken to its core on Friday night following the news of the trade that sent superstar Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes from the Colorado Avalanche. If that wasn't big enough, former first-overall pick Taylor Hall was also traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to Carolina in the same three-team trade. It was one of those trades that broke with little-to-no speculation before it beyond Colorado's ongoing negotiations with Rantanen, who is a pending unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team this upcoming offseason.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
So, therein lies the question – how can we make this about the Leafs?

In all seriousness, there's actually a parallel to be drawn here between Rantanen and the Maple Leafs' own star forward with a contract renewal coming up, Mitch Marner. The Maple Leafs' fourth-overall pick in 2015 has been the subject of mock trades every offseason following playoff defeat, and despite Marner's skillset and strength on both sides of the puck, it's a conversation that needs to be had and will be drastically shaped based on how the Leafs perform beyond the regular season in 2024-25.

The Leafs may not be having these conversations internally yet, but other teams around the league have taken notice of the situation, and according to DailyFaceoff's Frank Seravalli, the Hurricanes were one of them.

"I believe that the Carolina Hurricanes at least inquired about Mitch Marner as they were going through this process with Mikko Rantanen. I don't know how far they got, I don't know if it's a possibility that maybe they were not a team that Marner would go to."

You can take this for what it is, pure speculation, but Seravalli isn't off-base to have belief in a Hurricanes inquiry here. Marner and Rantanen are from the same draft class and are right in line with each other from a production standpoint. He fits the mould of what they were looking to acquire, but ultimately, the Avalanche were more willing to move on from Rantanen than anybody expected. He went on to connect Marner to other star players around the league who have had their names floated.

"Look, they were in on Pettersson, Miller, Rantanen, I'd be very surprised if they did not at least inquire, or even more strongly than that, with the Toronto Maple Leafs about Mitch Marner."

The speculation won't take anybody very far, as Seravalli penned the chances that the Leafs trade Marner before the deadline at 20%, while co-host Ryan S. Clark came in even lower at 10%. But it's an important trade to keep an eye on nonetheless to see how it affects other big names being floated around as we approach the deadline, whether that's Marner or somebody else.

You can watch the full video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEAydH6NY6I

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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Seravalli: Hurricanes ‘at least inquired’ about Leafs’ Marner before Rantanen trade

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