Report: Los Angeles Kings Rejected by Mikko Rantanen

The Los Angeles Kings tried to take a massive swing ahead of last week's trade deadline, and unfortunately, Mikko Rantanen wanted nothing to do with signing a contract extension to play long term for the Los Angeles Kings.

Surprising to say the least, as playing hockey in sunny California is certainly near the top of many NHLers wish lists, but Rantanen stuck to his guns, and apparently only wanted to play for four teams, including the Stars, Maple Leafs, Oilers and Avalanche. 

Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli was asked on the Kings/Rantanen situation and why the Kings had a somewhat quiet deadline on a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, and had this to say on the matter:

I think it probably came down to fit. I’ll give you some background. The Kings were extremely interested in Mikko Rantanen. But once they found out that he was not willing to re-sign in Los Angeles, and got a no, they withdrew themselves from consideration. First off, I think they were offended that Rantanen didn’t want to play in Los Angeles. I mean, who doesn’t want to live in California? But, the other part of it being, like, ‘Hey, look. We want to make a splash, but we can’t also just invent players on the marketplace.’ So, I understand why you might look at that team and think,

Could they have used a Brock Boeser to inject into their mix?’ And I get it, but it’s not like Boeser at this point in the season is also lighting the world on fire. So, you can’t manufacture players that are perfect fits for your team. You can only take a swing on what is actually out there. Were there other things that the Kings got up to? I didn’t hear about them. Not to say that that didn’t happen, but you can’t also force a square peg into a round hole. It’s easy to be critical, but who would you have liked to see as the fit?

The Kings enter Wednesday's action sitting in third in the Pacific Division and have a seven point cushion on the Calgary Flames, who are currently in the second wild-card position.

Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images