Central Division rivals make moves in 'arms race' prior to NHL Trade Deadline

The battle lines in the Central Division of the NHL have been drawn.

“A little bit of an arms race going on,” Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel said Friday.

You can say that again.

In the final 16 hours before the NHL Trade Deadline hit Friday at 3 p.m. ET, Central Division rivals the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars traded haymakers, and the first-place Jets bolstered their roster with depth moves.

“I think that sort of when one domino falls, others start to hit and there’s obviously some very, very big names going,” Arniel said. “Us like a lot of teams in Central, we all feel like we all have good teams that have a chance to win. They’ve made their moves, we’ve done stuff in different ways and really, it’ll come down to the playoffs. But all these teams, it’ll be interesting this last stretch of the season and then going into playoffs.”

The second-place Stars (41-19-2), eight points behind the Jets (44-16-4) after Winnipeg won 6-1 against the New Jersey Devils on Friday, made the splashiest move ahead of the Deadline, acquiring forward Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday afternoon and then signing him to an eight-year, $96 million contract.

That came after the Avalanche, Rantanen’s former team, landed forward Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders late Thursday night.

But Colorado wasn’t done, acquiring forward Charlie Coyle from the Boston Bruins and bringing back defenseman Erik Johnson in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I’m a hockey fan, right? You guys (media), you get excited by the buzz and the chatter and what teams may or may not do, and you look at the boards, and there’s some bear of teams, obviously, on both sides,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said. “But in our division in particular -- the Winnipeg Jets, the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild, the (St. Louis) Blues, on and on -- there’s no easy nights. You watch. You do. You pay attention but you have what you have, right? You have a certain level of picks and prospects, and it doesn't sort of dictate [decisions], but you pay attention to it, for sure.”

Colorado (37-24-2) and the Minnesota Wild (36-23-4) are tied for third in the division, eight points behind Dallas. It was the Avalanche who got this whole trade carousel going on Jan. 24, when they sent Rantanen to the Hurricanes, believing they could not sign the then-pending unrestricted free agent to a contract.

But Carolina could not sign him either, setting the stage for Dallas to swoop in and land the biggest prize leading up to the Deadline.

“The chance to acquire and extend one of the best forwards in the NHL is an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “He demonstrates exceptional skill and vision on the ice and his size, consistency and versatility make him one of the most complete players in the League. Mikko’s experience in the postseason is an invaluable asset to our team as we work toward the goal of winning a Stanley Cup.”

The Jets, meanwhile, acquired defenseman Luke Schenn from the Pittsburgh Penguins and forward Brandon Tanev from the Seattle Kraken in separate trades.

The Wild didn’t make any splashy moves, landing forward Justin Brazeau from the Bruins on Thursday after reacquiring Gustav Nyquist from the Nashville Predators on March 1, in part because they are handcuffed by NHL salary cap restraints.

“Yeah, you want to be involved but you know what? We’re just at a different stage then those teams,” Minnesota GM Bill Guerin said. “We’ll have our day, but it was the same thing this summer when you’re watching other teams load up. For some reason we still have to play the games. If we’re going by that we might as well just pack our [stuff] and go home. But I think we’ll show up and play the games and see how it checks out.”

The flurry of moves set the stage for what should be a crazy final quarter of the season.

The Stars start a four-game road trip Saturday that includes a game at Winnipeg on March 14 before ending with Rantanen’s return to Colorado on March 16.

Dallas then hosts Winnipeg on April 10, one week before the regular season ends.

And then there will be the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where a Stars-Avalanche first-round series is a real possibility.

“Those games are going to [stink], like, a lot,” Colorado defenseman Devon Toews said of facing Dallas with Rantanen. “It’s not going to be fun to play against him and to have to deal with his big body (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) and his presence down low and his scoring ability. Trying to shut that down is a problem, a big problem to figure out.”

NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report