A Sportsnet report Saturday night indicated that Carolina Hurricanes right winger, Mikko Rantanen, was considering a massive contract extension offer from the team – specifically, a financial amount that was “into the nine digits”. That would likely mean an average annual value of at least $12.5 million per season on an eight-year contract term. And while Rantanen may ultimately choose to remain in Carolina, there are some worrisome metrics out there that could cause Rantanen to be traded at or before the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline.
To be sure, since the blockbuster deal that sent Rantanen from Colorado to the Hurricanes, Rantanen hasn’t looked comfortable with his new team. He has just one goal and three points in seven games – numbers far worse than his 25-goal, 64-point performance in 49 games with the Avalanche this year – and his shooting percentage has plummeted from a career-best 18.5 percent this season with the Avs to only 4.6 percent with the ‘Canes.
Meanwhile, Rantanen’s minutes are also down significantly, from 22:30 with Colorado this year to 20:10 with Carolina. Granted, Rantanen is playing on a deeper Hurricanes squad, but when your minutes drop by approximately 10 percent, your totals on offense are going to reflect that. And those relatively-disappointing totals could result in Rantanen being offered less money than he believes he’s worth – an amount of money that could be anywhere from $13-14-million per season.
The Sportsnet report suggested Rantanen has told the ‘Canes he needs time to evaluate the team’s contract offer. But if he decides the fit in Carolina isn’t to his liking and shoots down the extension offer, Rantanen could be involved in two massive trades in the same season. That sounds ridiculous given how talented Rantanen is, but in the cutthroat world of the salary-capped NHL, teams have to take a cold-blooded approach when it comes to fluid contract situations like Rantanen’s.
With the NHL’s salary cap ceiling set to surge greatly in the next three seasons, Rantanen’s representatives likely want a bigger piece of the pie than he’s earned with the Avs and with Carolina right now. And if the hockey fit isn’t to Rantanen’s liking, it may not matter what the Hurricanes offer him. He holds all the leverage, and he knows it.
So, this is a situation worth keeping an eye on. The ‘Canes have about two weeks to get Rantanen’s future nailed down, and if they can’t do it, they’ll have little choice but to send him packing. It’s about that cut-and-dried, and between now and March 7, Rantanen has to either commit to Carolina for the long haul or find himself playing on the third team of his NHL career.
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