The media is making a bigger deal out of it than it is.
Rantanen arrived at Carolina when the Canes were in the middle of a norovirus outbreak, leading to some very disjointed play. Then he took a shot to the leg and lost a game to injury. Then he went off to play in the 4 Nations tournament. He’s spent…maybe a week total?…in Raleigh since the trade. And obviously, that’s not a lot of time for a person to decide if they want to commit 8 years to a location, especially after an apparently unexpected trade from Colorado.
So Carolina is doing what they can. They’re presenting him with an offer that’s going to match, if not exceed, any offer he’s going to get in FA. They’re showing that money won’t be an issue if he does decide to stay. And with the Canes having a pretty good run of home games over the next week or so, he’ll get a much better idea of the area.
Obviously, the deadline is a real time crunch though, because Carolina can’t risk losing him for nothing.