RALEIGH — Those waiting for first-year GM Eric Tulsky to put his imprint on the Hurricanes don’t need to wait any longer.
Carolina added superstar winger Mikko Rantanen and former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall in a blockbuster three-team trade Friday night that shocked the NHL and reshaped the Hurricanes’ roster.
The Hurricanes sent Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second round pick and 2026 fourth pick to Colorado, and a third round pick to Chicago to complete the trade. The Blackhawks are also retaining half of Rantanen’s $9.25 million contract — which expires at the end of the season — and sent the rights to 2022 sixth round pick Nils Juntorp to Carolina in the deal.
Rantanen gives the Hurricanes arguably one of the NHL’s top 10 players. A 2022 Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche, the 28-year-old Finn has 681 points in 619 regular season games, including 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games this season. In the previous three years, Rantanen had 104, 105 and 92 points and 43 power play goals.
While Hall’s days as an elite winger are behind him, the 2018 league MVP has 275 goals and 721 points in 878 regular season games. Selected first overall by Edmonton in the 2010 draft, the 33-year-old has played for six different teams in his 15-season career, scoring 20 or more goals seven times.
This season with Chicago, Hall had nine goals and 24 points in 46 games while playing just under 15 minutes a night.
“Mikko is one of the premiere power forwards in our sport,” Tulsky said in a press release. “It’s no secret that we’ve wanted to add elite skill to our lineup, and this is a player who should fit our system and locker room well. And Taylor gives us another high-skill option to bolster our attack.”
To land Rantanen and Hall, Carolina had to give up two home-grown players.
Necas was the NHL’s player of the month in November and had 55 points in 43 games this season. But after starting the season as one of the league’s hottest players, the 26-year-old Czech — selected 12th overall in 2017 by Carolina — had cooled off, again raising career-long concerns that he cannot mesh his considerable skill with consistency.
Also going in the deal is Drury, a 2018 second round pick who has 46 points in 153 career games. Drury, a week shy of his 25th birthday, had become a reliable bottom-six center, penalty-killer and leave-it-all-on-the-ice player for the Hurricanes, but he’s also struggled to score: Among players with at least 100 games in the Rod Brind’Amour era, Drury had a shooting percentage of 6.2%, lowest among all forwards.
The trade also required Tulsky to get creative with the salary cap. Moving out the contracts of Necas ($6.5 million) and Drury ($1.725 million) took $8.225 million off the books for Carolina. By looping the Blackhawks into the deal, the Hurricanes got Chicago to absorb half of Rantanen’s deal ($4.625 million) while taking on all of Hall’s $6 million contract.
That meant Carolina only needed to take on an additional $2.4 million in the contract — a much easier task than if the team had needed to add all of Rantanen’s $9.25 million contract.
While the trade immediately improves the Hurricanes, it is not without risk.
Both Rantanen and Hall will be unrestricted free agents after the season, and the Carolina’s front office’s new priority will be convincing Rantanen to re-sign and play alongside Sebastian Aho — who was picked 35th overall in 2015 in the same draft Rantanen was selected 10th — for the rest of the decade and beyond.
Necas has another year on his deal before reaching unrestricted free agency, and Drury’s deal also expires after the 2025-26 season, though he will again be a restricted free agent.
For now, though, the Hurricanes have reshaped their forward corps and added an elite 6-foot-4, 215-pound winger, giving them the star power many have felt they lacked.
