When Rantanen made the decision not to extend in Carolina, Scott said he communicated that fact with enough time for the Hurricanes to find a trade partner that would allow them to recoup the best possible assets.
"(Rantanen) could have very easily said, 'No, I'm going to wait to become an unrestricted free agent and walk to free agency,'" Scott said on The FAN. "Or he could have said, 'Trade me elsewhere, but I'm just going to be a rental,' and they wouldn't have recouped the assets they recouped in this deal, had he done that.
"The fact he was willing to sign an extension (with Dallas) at this juncture was big for Carolina. They would not have got the return they got on Mikko's trade to Dallas if he wasn't prepared to sign. In fact, he wouldn't have been traded to Dallas if he was not prepared to sign an extension there."