A lot. Probably more than the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> are comfortable with. Sorry, did you want something more specific?
Perhaps the unlikeliest development in the NHL this season has been superstar Mikko Rantanen&#8217;s place at the top of the trade board. It was enough of a shock when the Colorado Avalanche decided to move on from their star winger mid-season instead of going on one last run with him and trying to negotiate a new deal in the offseason. Then, it was made ten times more chaotic when it was discovered that Rantanen wasn&#8217;t interested in negotiating a deal with the Hurricanes, prompting them to put him back on the block.
Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving caught some heat from the fanbase by addressing the media earlier this week and essentially telling everybody to temper their expectations when it came to the Leafs. But it goes to show that you can&#8217;t always take a quote from a press conference at face value. It&#8217;s now been reported by both Nick Kypreos and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that the Leafs are one of a few teams who are <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/report-toronto-maple-leafs-very-interested-pursuing-mikko-rantanen">heavily interested in Rantanen</a>, including the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings. After seeing the Panthers boost their defensive corps with the addition of Seth Jones and the Lightning selling their draft capital to acquire Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken, you can sense that the pressure around Treliving to make a significant move has raised a little bit.
So, let&#8217;s <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/could-mikko-rantanen-come-toronto-gm-brad-treliving-options">examine the situation</a> and see if there&#8217;s a world where the Leafs could make this happen. There are a number of factors involved here, including his salary, whether or not the Hurricanes will retain salary, whether the Leafs are on his no-trade list, and whether he would be interested in negotiating a contract extension. The elephant in the room here is that Rantanen is an established of a superstar as you can get in this day and age, so there&#8217;s a less than one percent chance that he&#8217;ll be a cheap acquisition. He&#8217;s scored as many as 55 goals in a single season, he&#8217;s recorded over a point per game in six of his eight NHL seasons to date, and he&#8217;s a proven playoff performer with a Stanley Cup under his belt. We&#8217;re not talking about taking a chance on a high-potential young player who hasn&#8217;t lived up to his contract, we&#8217;re talking about a 28-year-old superstar who has nothing left to prove to other teams.
All of this is to say that Rantanen won&#8217;t come at a cheap price, especially if there&#8217;s salary retained to the degree it&#8217;s speculated it could be. The Chicago Blackhawks are retaining 50% of his salary after being rallied as a broker in the initial trade with the Avalanche, and if the Hurricanes retain an additional 25% of the gross sum, that gets his cap hit down to $2.3 million. Yes, a potential 50-goal, 100-point power forward at $2.3 million for one lucky team to add to their playoff run. It almost sounds too good to be true, and that notion will be confirmed when you discuss the return.
The Hurricanes are in a bit of an odd position here. You would imagine they would want a return similar to what they paid up for him initially, which was headlined by former first-round pick and point-per-game player Martin Necas, but at the same time, how much leverage do they have if it becomes certain that Rantanen isn&#8217;t going to re-up? Technically, they don&#8217;t have to make a move and can hold onto him for their playoff run like they originally intended, but it&#8217;s not like he&#8217;s been a force since arriving in Raleigh, either. He has two goals and six points in 12 games, which likely doesn&#8217;t help their case. Still, his small sample size won&#8217;t deter teams from the other eight years of his career, which is a much better reference point.
The closest comparable I can think of to Necas in this instance is Matthew Knies. The Maple Leafs&#8217; second round pick from 2021 has developed into a force early in his career, wasting no time to showcase his ability to score in the clutch, and his offence has already taken a big step in his sophomore season with 24 goals and 41 points in 58 games. He&#8217;s only 22 years old but already has the frame and maturity of somebody in their mid-20s, so it wouldn&#8217;t be easy for the Leafs to part with him, but if Rantanen comes with an eight-year extension, it would be a necessary price to pay. One of their first round picks, whether in 2026 or 2027, will almost certainly be in play, and an additional young NHLer or top prospect will likely be part of the ask too.
The two closest comparables to a deal like this I can think of are the Matthew Tkachuk trade to the Calgary Flames (which, ironically enough, Brad Treliving pulled off), and Jack Eichel going to the Vegas Golden Knights. For as much flak Treliving caught at the time, coming out of the deal with Jonathan Huberdeau (who tallied 115 points the year before the trade), a top-4 defenceman in Mackenzie Weegar, a decent prospect in Cole Schwindt and a first round pick is masterful work, even if Huberdeau hasn&#8217;t quite lived up to expectations. Meanwhile, Vegas acquired Eichel for a top-6 power forward in Alex Tuch, one of their top prospects in Peyton Krebs, a first round pick and a second round pick. Is this something the Leafs would be comfortable or willing to do, considering all of the contract discourse already circling them regarding Mitch Marner?
That&#8217;s another factor. If Rantanen comes to Toronto with an extension, you can essentially kiss <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/how-mikko-rantanen-trade-whats-next-mitch-marner">Marner</a> goodbye. The Leafs won&#8217;t want to commit double digits to four forwards even if the cap is projected to rise, and who knows where that money will go if Marner did in fact leave. Is that a move worth making for one playoff run? And how much does the extension talk affect his value? If he comes to Toronto as an unrestricted free agent with no plans to re-up, what kind of return does he command? Is it closer to what the Pittsburgh Penguins <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/jake-guentzel-traded-to-carolina-hurricanes-by-pittsburgh-penguins">got for Jake Guentzel</a> last season or what the Blues got for <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-acquire-ryan-oreilly-and-noel-acciari-from-the-blues-in-three-team-trade">Ryan O&#8217;Reilly</a> two years ago? Would a first round pick and a top prospect like Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten be enough to move the needle? It would be hefty, but for a player of Rantanen&#8217;s calibre making the equivalent of a third-line winger, it may be worth it.
In the end, I would say you&#8217;re better off not getting your hopes up for a Rantanen deal. There is no doubt that Treliving has checked in and is doing his research, he would be <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-future-does-not-matter-toronto-maple-leafs">foolish not to</a>. But, with the crux of the Leafs&#8217; issues being the lack of a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/brad-treliving-maple-leafs-pursuing-centre-trade-deadline">third-line centre</a> and depth on defence, going against the grain and selling the farm just to get ahead of your opponents doesn&#8217;t seem like something he would do. Besides, everybody knows deep down that this team is talented enough on paper to make a deep run. It all comes down to the guys who are already being paid double digits to play for the Maple Leafs, with or without Rantanen.
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A lot. Probably more than the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> are comfortable with. Sorry, did you want something more specific?

Perhaps the unlikeliest development in the NHL this season has been superstar Mikko Rantanen's place at the top of the trade board. It was enough of a shock when the Colorado Avalanche decided to move on from their star winger mid-season instead of going on one last run with him and trying to negotiate a new deal in the offseason. Then, it was made ten times more chaotic when it was discovered that Rantanen wasn't interested in negotiating a deal with the Hurricanes, prompting them to put him back on the block.

Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving caught some heat from the fanbase by addressing the media earlier this week and essentially telling everybody to temper their expectations when it came to the Leafs. But it goes to show that you can't always take a quote from a press conference at face value. It's now been reported by both Nick Kypreos and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that the Leafs are one of a few teams who are <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/report-toronto-maple-leafs-very-interested-pursuing-mikko-rantanen">heavily interested in Rantanen</a>, including the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings. After seeing the Panthers boost their defensive corps with the addition of Seth Jones and the Lightning selling their draft capital to acquire Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken, you can sense that the pressure around Treliving to make a significant move has raised a little bit.

So, let's <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/could-mikko-rantanen-come-toronto-gm-brad-treliving-options">examine the situation</a> and see if there's a world where the Leafs could make this happen. There are a number of factors involved here, including his salary, whether or not the Hurricanes will retain salary, whether the Leafs are on his no-trade list, and whether he would be interested in negotiating a contract extension. The elephant in the room here is that Rantanen is an established of a superstar as you can get in this day and age, so there's a less than one percent chance that he'll be a cheap acquisition. He's scored as many as 55 goals in a single season, he's recorded over a point per game in six of his eight NHL seasons to date, and he's a proven playoff performer with a Stanley Cup under his belt. We're not talking about taking a chance on a high-potential young player who hasn't lived up to his contract, we're talking about a 28-year-old superstar who has nothing left to prove to other teams.

All of this is to say that Rantanen won't come at a cheap price, especially if there's salary retained to the degree it's speculated it could be. The Chicago Blackhawks are retaining 50% of his salary after being rallied as a broker in the initial trade with the Avalanche, and if the Hurricanes retain an additional 25% of the gross sum, that gets his cap hit down to $2.3 million. Yes, a potential 50-goal, 100-point power forward at $2.3 million for one lucky team to add to their playoff run. It almost sounds too good to be true, and that notion will be confirmed when you discuss the return.

The Hurricanes are in a bit of an odd position here. You would imagine they would want a return similar to what they paid up for him initially, which was headlined by former first-round pick and point-per-game player Martin Necas, but at the same time, how much leverage do they have if it becomes certain that Rantanen isn't going to re-up? Technically, they don't have to make a move and can hold onto him for their playoff run like they originally intended, but it's not like he's been a force since arriving in Raleigh, either. He has two goals and six points in 12 games, which likely doesn't help their case. Still, his small sample size won't deter teams from the other eight years of his career, which is a much better reference point.

The closest comparable I can think of to Necas in this instance is Matthew Knies. The Maple Leafs' second round pick from 2021 has developed into a force early in his career, wasting no time to showcase his ability to score in the clutch, and his offence has already taken a big step in his sophomore season with 24 goals and 41 points in 58 games. He's only 22 years old but already has the frame and maturity of somebody in their mid-20s, so it wouldn't be easy for the Leafs to part with him, but if Rantanen comes with an eight-year extension, it would be a necessary price to pay. One of their first round picks, whether in 2026 or 2027, will almost certainly be in play, and an additional young NHLer or top prospect will likely be part of the ask too.

The two closest comparables to a deal like this I can think of are the Matthew Tkachuk trade to the Calgary Flames (which, ironically enough, Brad Treliving pulled off), and Jack Eichel going to the Vegas Golden Knights. For as much flak Treliving caught at the time, coming out of the deal with Jonathan Huberdeau (who tallied 115 points the year before the trade), a top-4 defenceman in Mackenzie Weegar, a decent prospect in Cole Schwindt and a first round pick is masterful work, even if Huberdeau hasn't quite lived up to expectations. Meanwhile, Vegas acquired Eichel for a top-6 power forward in Alex Tuch, one of their top prospects in Peyton Krebs, a first round pick and a second round pick. Is this something the Leafs would be comfortable or willing to do, considering all of the contract discourse already circling them regarding Mitch Marner?

That's another factor. If Rantanen comes to Toronto with an extension, you can essentially kiss <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/how-mikko-rantanen-trade-whats-next-mitch-marner">Marner</a> goodbye. The Leafs won't want to commit double digits to four forwards even if the cap is projected to rise, and who knows where that money will go if Marner did in fact leave. Is that a move worth making for one playoff run? And how much does the extension talk affect his value? If he comes to Toronto as an unrestricted free agent with no plans to re-up, what kind of return does he command? Is it closer to what the Pittsburgh Penguins <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/jake-guentzel-traded-to-carolina-hurricanes-by-pittsburgh-penguins">got for Jake Guentzel</a> last season or what the Blues got for <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-acquire-ryan-oreilly-and-noel-acciari-from-the-blues-in-three-team-trade">Ryan O'Reilly</a> two years ago? Would a first round pick and a top prospect like Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten be enough to move the needle? It would be hefty, but for a player of Rantanen's calibre making the equivalent of a third-line winger, it may be worth it.

In the end, I would say you're better off not getting your hopes up for a Rantanen deal. There is no doubt that Treliving has checked in and is doing his research, he would be <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-future-does-not-matter-toronto-maple-leafs">foolish not to</a>. But, with the crux of the Leafs' issues being the lack of a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/brad-treliving-maple-leafs-pursuing-centre-trade-deadline">third-line centre</a> and depth on defence, going against the grain and selling the farm just to get ahead of your opponents doesn't seem like something he would do. Besides, everybody knows deep down that this team is talented enough on paper to make a deep run. It all comes down to the guys who are already being paid double digits to play for the Maple Leafs, with or without Rantanen.

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Get ready, hockey fans! The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff Deadline</a> is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we've got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff YouTube channel</a> and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!

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