If fortune favors the bold, a Stanley Cup Final featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche is in the works.

The blockbuster trade that was headlined by Mikko Rantanen going from the Avalanche to the Hurricanes was a bold step by both clubs, although it will send the rest of the league into a frenzy earlier than expected.

To recap what was a three-team deal, the Avalanche dealt Rantanen—a two-time 100-point player who has netted 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games this season—to the Hurricanes, via the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Chicago also sent pending unrestricted free agent left wing Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes while retaining half of Rantanen’s salary and received a third-round pick—which happens to be their own selection that had been dealt to Carolina at last year’s draft.

The Avalanche receive a couple of forwards in Martin Necas, capable of skating on the club’s top two lines, and Jack Drury, plus a 2025 second-round draft choice and 2026 fourth-round selection.

In acquiring Rantanen, a 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent who is likely to become the highest-paid winger in the league, the Hurricanes paid a steep price. However, the long-held adage of a hockey trade is that the winning team is the one that receives the best player, and Rantanen is unquestionably the best player in the deal.

That is only part of Carolina’s brazen rationale. While being knocked out of the playoffs in the second round in five of the past six seasons, the Hurricanes have been undone all too often by a lack of an offensive game-breaker. Rantanen can fill that void, and should the Hurricanes be able to ink him to a contract extension, he will provide that ability for many years.

That said, the Avalanche deserve praise for making a big move. Dealing Rantanen likely puts a crimp on their playoff hopes, but with his salary demands all but pricing him out of Denver—where MacKinnon’s contract worth $12.6 million per season appears to be the team’s ceiling—it was better to move Rantanen instead of losing him for nothing in the summer.

As well, do not be shocked if Colorado GM Chris MacFarland has a subsequent move or two in the works to bolster his club.

In the interim, Necas, 26, potentially can be the much-needed second-line center Colorado dearly needs, although he is more likely to be a winger alongside superstar Nathan MacKinnon.

Drury, 24, is a solid third- or fourth-line forward who is well off the eight-goal, 27-point season he posted in 2023-24. 

As easy as it is to lambast the Avalanche, it will be worth seeing what comes down the pike. With a whack of salary cap space and an extra couple of draft picks, MacFarland has the ability to find that second-line center long desired. 

Right now the Vancouver Canucks appear ready to move on from one of either Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller, and both would fit in perfectly with the Avalanche. That said, there are other squads who would love to make their pitch for one of those centers.

The March 7 trade deadline is just under six weeks away. A blockbuster to kick off the festivities this far in advance is a fantastic way to whet the appetite.