Hurricanes still flourishing after trading Rantanen to Stars

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- Judging by the way the Carolina Hurricanes have been playing, you wouldn't know they traded the best player available prior to the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline.

The Hurricanes, minus forward Mikko Rantanen, who was moved to the Dallas Stars on March 7, have won seven in a row heading into a three-game California road trip starting at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, NBCSCA).

"We are playing a very responsible game right now," Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky told NHL.com. "We're not giving up nearly as much as we were for some stretches and that makes the job easier for everyone. The goalies are playing great. So, when you play a good 200-foot game and the goalies are playing well and pucks are going in, you string together seven wins."

The streak started in the days preceding the Deadline, with the Hurricanes defeating the Calgary Flames 2-1 in overtime on March 2, the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on March 4 and the Boston Bruins 3-2 on the eve of the Deadline.

But the Rantanen situation was hanging over them at that time.

Would Rantanen, who Carolina acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 24, sign with the Hurricanes? Would they keep him through the Deadline even if he refused to sign? Would they trade him and try to recoup some assets despite being a Stanley Cup contender?

Ultimately, they traded Rantanen to the Stars. He negotiated an eight-year, $96 million contract ($12 million average annual value), which could have left Tulsky wondering why he wouldn't choose Carolina, maybe even hurt by the whole thing.

Instead, the Hurricanes have arguably been at their best since, continuing the win streak by defeating the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 on March 9, the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on March 11 and the Red Wings 4-2 on March 14 before a 5-0 victory at the Philadelphia Flyers on March 15.

They ride into SAP Center outscoring the opposition 24-9 during the win streak.

"We have a group of players who are a really good fit for the way we play, and I think that shows night in and night out," Tulsky said. "I think they're very comfortable with the teammates they have, the coach they have, the way we play, and they know that when they're playing their best they're a very hard team to beat."

Read between the lines, and it's obvious what Tulsky is saying -- the Hurricanes believed they could win the Stanley Cup with Rantanen, and they still believe they can without him.

There will continue to be questions about why Rantanen didn't buy into the Hurricanes and instead did so with the Stars. Tulsky, in fact, is still answering them. And as he does, he continues to stress one thing:

It takes a certain type of player to play for Carolina and coach Rod Brind'Amour.

"Part of what has made us as good as we are is that we have a team full of players who are 100 percent committed to the way Rod wants this team to play and who will play for each other and play for their coach," Tulsky said. "That's a really powerful thing.

"Part of what we look for with our scouting group is evaluating who has the abilities to play the way Rod wants players to play. There are a lot of players in this league who are very effective for the teams that they play for who wouldn't be as good for us. We want to try to stay away from those and find the players who are going to be even better for us than they are for their current team."

Rantanen had six points (two goals, four assists) in 13 games with the Hurricanes; he already has four points (two goals, two assists) in five games with the Stars after producing 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in 49 games with the Avalanche before he was initially moved to Carolina.

Still, the Hurricanes went for the big swing on Jan. 24, acquiring Rantanen and trading forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury to Colorado without knowing if he would sign with them.

They likely wouldn't have made the move if they knew with certainty there was no chance Rantanen was going to sign. It was a risk some may see as a miscalculation, but the Hurricanes see as just a part of their season that still has so much promise.

They're getting contributions from the entire lineup. Fourteen players have accounted for the 24 goals they've scored during the seven-game winning streak.

Goalies Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen have flourished. In the past seven games, Kochetkov is 4-0-0 with a 0.99 goals-against average and .960 save percentage; Andersen is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA and .932 save percentage.

The Hurricanes are insulating them and allowing fewer than 25 shots on goal per game (24.7). Their penalty kill is 94.1 percent, making up for a power play that is just 7.1 percent.

"This team is playing hard every single night right now and the way we play, with the amount of pressure we apply, when everybody is going hard, we're a really tough team to beat," Tulsky said. "Right now, it looks the way it's supposed to."