Revealed: Rantanen's Ask In Free Agency If No Hurricanes Extension

Now that Mikko Rantanen is officially a Carolina Hurricane, one of the questions facing the franchise is 'Will they be able to sign him to an extension?'.

Based on the latest reporting from insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, that becomes a very important query, since he has put it out there as to what the Finnish superstar's demands will be if he hits unrestricted free agency this summer:

They’ve got five-plus months to extend him.
Carolina will want to put its best foot forward and not risk getting too close to July 1 with Rantanen. I can assure you Rantanen’s ask on the market (as a UFA) July 1 is $14 million plus, with the emphasis on the plus.

And while LeBrun also suggests that Rantanen might have taken a bit less to stay with the Avs, the $12.6M 'internal cap' that the team had was simply too far off, knowing what he can get in free agency.

The fact that Rantanen's player agency colleague, Leon Draisaitl, got a $14M AAV from the Edmonton Oilers last summer was a huge factor in the way this all played out, as we shared on Saturday.

And complicating the potential extension negotiations even further for Canes GM Eric Tulsky, points out LeBrun, is the fact that Jake Guentzel—who the Hurricanes acquired in a major deal last year, but were unable to extend—is also represented by the same agency as Rantanen (and Draisaitl). So the Hurricanes know what they're dealing with, and they know it won't be easy.

But LeBrun says the Canes do have one thing working in their favor.

The key for Carolina is that it can go eight years with the 28-year-old Rantanen. No other team will be able to do that July 1. The total money over eight years is an important factor.

One report has the team already reaching out to Rantanen's agent.

Tulsky says the team has already contacted Rantanen's agent but everything is very preliminary.

Says both sides need to "understand the relationship" before a deal gets done.
— Cory Lavalette (@corylav) January 25, 2025

The good news for Hurricanes fans is that the current top cap hit on the team belongs to Sebastian Aho (Rantanen's good buddy, by the way), at $9.75M. So the old 'internal cap' thing won't be an issue here.