This will take less time to explain than you think it will. Mikko Rantanen at one time formed one of the most potent first lines in Colorado with Nathan Mckinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.
However, with an expiring contract and unable to come to come to a new deal with him, the Avs did what they had to and traded him away to the Carolina Hurricanes so they didn't lose him for nothing in free agency. The Hurricanes then shipped him away to the Dallas Stars after a mere 13 games, and the Stars backed the Brinks truck up to Rantanen not too soon after, signing him for $36 million over three seasons after this one.
So why did he get traded to Dallas over Edmonton?
To put it simply, the Stars both needed and wanted Rantanen more. Circumstances were such for them, that a lot of cap space would soon be freed up. Let me explain further...
Let's take a look at Dallas' cap space first. Do you notice anything interesting? You'll see that two NHL stars of yesteryear, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, are either providing cap relief to the Stars this season or will be next season. Having played a high profile role in the organization for many years now, both Benn and Seguin have a lot of hard miles on their bodies and thus are rumored to have lost a step over the years - or so chatgpt tells me when it searches the web.
Then there's this sort of drama, which certainly hasn't helped the situation.
But, if you look at the Star's cap situation, you'll see that Benn's contract is up after this season, effectively saving the club $9.5 million a season. While Seguin's contract isn't up for another two seasons, he's been seeing injury issues as he gets to the twilight of his career and is currently on LTIR - in fact, Seguin only played 19 games this season before getting injured. Between this and the fact they were able to get both Carolina and Chicago to retain cap on Rantanen's deal that expires this season, the Stars had a clear need for more top end scoring in the top six forward group.
Usually you have to replenish these guys through the draft, but then along comes Rantanen available in a trade. Factor in that the cap is at long last going up by a significant amount and you can see how Dallas was able to procure the services of Rantanen, not just for this season but for the next three. They also had a lot of LTIR cap space built up - besides Seguin ($9.85 million) they also have Miro Heiskanen on LTIR ($8.45 million) and Nils Lundkvist ($1.25 million). That's a lot of LTIR cap space being built up - over $20 million worth, at the time of writing.
Dallas also offered Carolina more in trade than the Oilers did, apparently. So, between cap space lining up and a great need, both now and long term, you can see why the stars aligned (pun not intended) for Dallas to nab him.
The Oilers' cap situation is a lot different. The only player of any significance that spent time on LTIR was Evander Kane, and he doesn't have anywhere near the cap hit that Rantanen had. The Oilers also didn't have the same need, as up until recently they've had the two best players in the league at the top of the roster (and will again once both are back from injury). They aren't going anywhere anytime soon and aren't in danger of aging out of the NHL for quite a long time.
So, with a diminished need for top end scoring, combined with a lot less cap space, it meant the Oilers only saw Rantanen as a rental, nothing more. While Rantanen would've made a heck of a rental, when a team like Dallas comes along and not only offers more in trade but has the cap space (which Edmonton doesn't have), and need (which Edmonton also doesn't have) to sign Rantanen long-term, you can see why Carolina pointed at Dallas and said "them," then Rantanen himself turned around and said the same thing.
If the Oilers could've signed Rantanen long term, should they?
Yeah....in case you haven't noticed, it's not 1996 anymore. The high end talent can't just start a bidding war for the highest offer and go to New York, Toronto, Montreal, Colorado, or what have you. In the modern NHL everyone has to abide by a hard salary cap.
This means any attempt by the Oilers to sign Rantanen long term would've involved a significant dismantling of the roster to accommodate a huge cap hit.
You know what the team would look like after that? The Maple Laffs. Those guys right now have literally half their cap space tied up in four forwards - elite forwards, mind you, but what has it gotten them? A single first round victory in almost a decade of that core. And why is that? Because they're spending so much cap space at the top of the roster they have to go bargain bin shopping to fill out the rest of the roster, which means they don't have the depth necessary to go far in the playoffs because they don't have the cap space, because it's all at the top of the roster. See how that works now?
Is that what you want the Oilers to become? I sure don't. I don't think Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do either. Auston Matthews will never admit this publicly, but I'm willing to bet he'd walk from the Leafs if he could right now, because they're not winning a thing of significance anytime soon, especially not the Stanley Cup. And I don't care about the regular season they've had, because that means nothing in the playoffs.
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