Rantanen vs Necas points race to end of season.

[Blueline Bomber]

Care to share a link on his “preferred destinations” I haven’t seen it and I’m gonna call be

Rantanen only wanted to sign with 4 teams — The Fourth Period

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour revealed Mikko Rantanen was only willing to sign now with 4 teams.

www.thefourthperiod.com

Rantanen ended up signing an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Dallas Stars, the team that traded for him, and according to TFP’s David Pagnotta, the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights were two other clubs he was interested in signing him now, in-season.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported on Friday that he believes the Toronto Maple Leafs, who expressed serious interest in Rantanen, were a team Rantanen “might look favourably on in signing with in the summer.” There are conflicting reports as to whether he was willing to sign with the Leafs now, after a trade.

[Editor’s Update: Pagnotta has since confirmed that Toronto was indeed one of the teams on Rantanen’s list and he was willing to sign with the club.]

The Los Angeles Kings also expressed serious interest in trading for Rantanen, but the star winger was not prepared to sign with them right now, either.

The Edmonton Oilers were another team interested in Rantanen, but trade talks never evolved past the exploratory stage, contrary to other reports.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Rantanen always reminded me of Draisaitl. Sit in the corner or side of the net waiting to rip a onsie or tip. But obviously we know who is doing the heavy lifting on both teams.

Doesnt change the fact he is a top 5 finisher in the game. I find myself saying it now with Drouin posted up in Mikko's office, "Mikko wouldve scored that".

Drai can absolutely tear it up on his own. Drai >>>>>>>>>>>>> Rantanen

 

[lionsDen]

Rantanen only wanted to sign with 4 teams — The Fourth Period

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour revealed Mikko Rantanen was only willing to sign now with 4 teams.

www.thefourthperiod.com

I see confirmed the leafs were one of the teams he’d sign with. I see Florida and Vegas…that he was interested in signing with

A lot of teams were interested but no where does it say anything about his interest in Edmonton long term.

 

[lionsDen]

Drai can absolutely tear it up on his own. Drai >>>>>>>>>>>>> Rantanen

Just a couple of years ago. He had a really bad reputation of his defense(drai). I really like drai as a player. I think rantenen play has fallen off a bit of a cliff, go back and watch his 22 playoffs he was a monster. As an avs fan I can say he deserves the hart this year. Outstanding year

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I see confirmed the leafs were one of the teams he’d sign with. I see Florida and Vegas…that he was interested in signing with

A lot of teams were interested but no where does it say anything about his interest in Edmonton long term.

Yeah, I mixed up Edmonton and Vegas in the rumor mill. I thought Vegas was the one that never got past the initial trade talks and Edmonton was the one he was willing to sign with.

Regardless, your claim that the idea he had “preferred destinations” as “be” (which I assume was a misspelled “bs”) was wrong. He did have only 4 teams he would sign an extension with: Dallas, Florida, Vegas and Toronto. The Canes probably could have traded him to other teams as a rental, but obviously would have gotten a much worse return.

 

[Hasbro]

Wasn't that surprising at the time

You want a laugh, find the draft day thread on HF Avs.

 

[weremarkar]

This ^ I didn't even know a thing about him just that we lost 1st overall which was a lower end 1st overall to start with. I didn't know if he was a F/D seen he was drafted out of the Ajhl nearly puked up. All it took was the highlights and I knew we hit fking GOLD!!!

EDIT: after the wjc, I think everyone knew then just how special he was going to be.

 

[MarkT]

The thing about Rantanen is I don't know the reason, but it was pretty clear he was no longer making any effort to be a better, more complete player. The epitome of this was his absolutely atrocious backchecking and his inexplicable tendency to always go offside on rush chances. Couple that with him consistently losing puck battles (often after holding on to the puck too long), trying to beat several guys with dekes when he's not even going fast, and falling down far too easily for a guy his size - all this points to someone not giving full effort both on and off the ice. Don't get me wrong, the dude is ultra talented. I've seen what a complete, full effort of him looks like from time to time over the years. But I just don't think he's got the discipline to become that player all the time. If he did he'd be a top 5 player in the league. Instead without someone like MacKinnon to feed him I think he'll level out as maybe a point per game guy and then decline as he gets slower and slower with age. By the end of that Dallas contract I guarantee it'll be seen as an albatross contract.

I don't think Ismo Lehkonen was totally wrong about him:

“He didn’t have a very good summer,” Lehkonen said, as translated by Ville Touru of Ilta-Sanomat for The Athletic. “There was a lot happening, many events of all kinds. He had to visit Helsinki and everything like that. … Perhaps he consciously took the summer a little more calmly after the hard years. And maybe he didn’t practice as much as in previous summers.”

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