Report: Rantanen Had Only 4 Teams He Would Have Signed With
The Mikko Rantanen Sweepstakes are finally over, with the second huge trade of the superstar this season going down at the deadline, landing him in Dallas. He immediately signed a long-term extension with the Stars as part of the trade conditions.
And while there were plenty of other teams involved in trying to secure the superstar's services, we're learning that there were only four teams that Rantanen would have signed a long-term deal with. This was revealed by Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour in a radio interview on 99.9 The Fan.
"There's not been one guy that has left here because they didn't like it here, except for Mikko. He didn't not like it. (It's just that) When he showed up, he said there's four teams I'll go play for. Well, you're not one of them. So there's 28 other teams he wasn't going to," said Brind'Amour.
Then the coach took a bit of a swipe at the hockey operations management team, with the big head-scratching query that everyone has had:
"The better question is, should we have known that before we… Attempted to sign him... We probably should have known that before we made the deal (with Colorado)."
So who were the Final Four teams that Rantanen would have agreed to sign an in-season extension with? According to insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, three of the four looked like this:
- Dallas Stars
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Florida Panthers
