Rantanen, Hall traded to Hurricanes in 3-way deal with Avalanche, Blackhawks

The Carolina Hurricanes acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

Colorado received forwards Jack Drury and Martin Necas, along with a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft from Carolina, which acquired Chicago forward prospect Nils Juntorp.

Chicago acquired a third-round pick in the 2025 Draft from Carolina. The Blackhawks will also retain 50 percent of Rantanen's $9.25 million salary.

Rantanen has played all 619 games of his NHL career with the Avalanche and has 681 points (287 goals, 394 assists). Selected No. 10 by Colorado in the 2015 NHL Draft, Rantanen helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 2022.

He is in the final year of a six-year, $55.5 million contract he signed with Colorado on Sept. 28, 2019, and can become an unrestricted free agent after this season. The 28-year-old has 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in 49 games this season, which was second on Colorado behind center Nathan MacKinnon (75 points).

“It’s a bittersweet day, right?” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said Saturday. “Mikko is a decorated player for us, he’s an elite winger in this league. So, it was a tough few days, but we just felt the timing was right, and the last few days it kind of came together.

“We decided to act yesterday, but it wasn’t without a lot of serious thought, I can assure you of that.”

Rantanen has 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) during the Cup run. He will represent Finland during the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.

"He's a fantastic fit for the way we play," urricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said. "We play a system that has us battling for pucks along the walls and trying to make plays at the net front and he's just one of the best in the League at some of those things. A lot of the identity of our team right now come from the way Jordan [Staal] plays and sort of carries plays with his heaviness and his strength, and Mikko can do all of that, but with really high-level skill to go with it. So, I don't think there's any question that he's going to be a tremendous fit on the ice and I've heard nothing but good things about him off the ice.

Hall is the final season of a four-year, $24 million contract ($6 million average annual value) he signed with the Boston Bruins on July 23, 2021, and can also become an unrestricted free agent after this season. He has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 46 games this season.

"Taylor's a huge piece too and, ultimately, one of the things that we felt our team could stand to have was a little bit of an upgrade on sort of skill and offensive punch," Tulsky said. "Marty's one of the most skilled players in the League, so if he's going back (in the trade), it's not easy to upgrade the skill level. But Mikko is an incredible offensive force and Taylor brings a lot of skill and some size and some speed and we think he's going to fit and help upgrade our scoring punch also."

The Hart Trophy winner as the NHL MVP in 2017-18 with the New Jersey Devils, Hall has 721 points (275 goals, 446 assists) in 878 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers, Devils, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Bruins and Blackhawks. The 33-year-old was held out of the Blackhawks' 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.

The No. 1 pick by the Oilers in the 2010 NHL Draft, Hall has 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists) in 39 playoff games.

"He’s one of my closest friends in the League, he’s become one and it’s always hard because there are families involved and friendships," said Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno, who was traded to Chicago from Boston with Hall on June 26, 2023. "In the same breath, it’s the business we understand and when you’re not where you’re supposed to be and guys are on expiring contracts, it’s the harsh reality of decisions that management has to make.

"We have no one else to blame but ourselves really in putting ourselves in the situation where they have to start thinking about the future and selling off. It’s not a fun feeling for anybody in here. When you’ve been a part of it a couple of times in my career, not too many, you lose some good friends. I wish 'Hallsy' all the best. He was a great pro for us, a great teammate, a great guy and he’ll be a great friend for a long time. So, it’s hard. You get to know the family and his little boy, I’ll miss seeing him around. But we’ll be close for a long time."

Necas is in his sixth full season with Carolina and has 55 points (16 goals, 39 assists) in 49 games. The 26-year-old had an NHL career-high 71 points (28 goals, 43 assists) in 2022-23, and has 298 points (113 goals, 185 assists) in 411 games. He also has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 59 playoff games.

The No. 12 pick by Carolina in the 2017 NHL Draft, Necas signed a two-year, $13 million contract ($6.5 million AAV) on July 29 to avoid a salary arbitration hearing and could have become an unrestricted free agent after next season.

Drury is in his third full NHL season with Carolina, and has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 39 games after having 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) in 74 games last season. The 24-year-old, who was selected by the Hurricanes in the second round (No. 42) of the 2018 NHL Draft, has 46 points (15 goals, 31 assists) in 153 regular-season games and eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 24 postseason games.

He signed a two-year, $3.45 million contract ($1.725 million AAV) with Carolina on July 17.

“Marty Necas, he’s been around the top 10 in scoring this year, but I think it’s his age is a big part of that, he fits in with his speed,” MacFarland said. “He’s certainly a top-six talent. Whether he has another bump in his game with the way we play, we’ll see. I think Jack is hopefully that [third-line center] that we’ve been kind of [looking] for. It’s no secret that this will improve our depth.

“Jack’s a gritty, competitive guy that I think our coaches will use on the penalty kill. We think there’s another bump in his game offensively as well. And it’s no secret that we’ve not been the best face-off team the last number of years and I think that’s an area where he’ll help us for sure. So, just looking for him to be a gritty, competitive guy and play a two-way game.”

The Hurricanes (30-16-3), who are second in the Metropolitan Division, rank fifth in the NHL with an average of 3.37 goals per game.

They have made the playoffs in six straight seasons but have not gotten to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in the Eastern Conference Final in 2019 and 2023.

They play at the New York Islanders on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MSGSN), and Rantanen and Hall will each be in the lineup.

"It's obviously exciting to see how it fits," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I mean, it's tough for them not to have even a little practice or anything. It's exciting, just the potential of what's there. ... . I mean, it takes time. So we'll see. As I said, I'm hopeful both of these guys can contribute. That's the whole name of the game."

Before the season, MacFarland said he wasn’t worried about signing Rantanen to a new contract. The Avalanche (28-19-2) hold the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. Necas and Drury were each in the lineup against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

“I’m not going to get into sort of the month by month, week by week chronology of [the trade],” MacFarland said Saturday. “I think it was just a tough business decision here for us. We just felt that the pieces we got, it made sense to strike now.

“I think we’re always sort of looking to get better, certainly over the next few weeks that won’t change. Obviously, there’s a [few] more bullets in the draft pick cupboards and some cap space. It’s not easy to make trades in this league as you guys know, but we’ll continue to look. And if something makes sense, then we’ll certainly strike.”

Hall, who last played in the postseason for Boston in 2023, when he had eight points (five goals, three assists) in seven games, said earlier this month that the possibility of going back to the playoffs would be a welcome opportunity.

"There's always a bright spot and there's always a positive you can take going on forward. Everyone in a contract year knows there's a lot of different ways things can go," he said. "I'm ready for anything. I have a great wife who is always ready for a good adventure, and if that's here or if that's somewhere else, we'll figure it out."

The Blackhawks acquired Hall to be a mentor and potential linemate for Connor Bedard, who was the No. 1 pick by Chicago in the 2023 NHL Draft. Hall missed most of last season after having surgery on his right knee in November 2023 and has played up and down the forward lines this season.

Chicago (15-28-5) is 15th in the West.

NHL.com senior writer Amalie Benjamin, staff writer Tracey Myers and independent correspondent Stefen Rosner contributed to this report