Rangers ‘curious’ to get look at Hurricanes after massive Mikko Rantanen trade
A massive trade between the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche shook the NHL on Friday night, and the New York Rangers are experiencing its effects firsthand this week.
The Rangers host each team at Madison Square Garden within days of the megadeal, which saw the Avalanche ship star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes for forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, plus two draft picks.
The new-look Avalanche skated into MSG on Sunday and defeated the Rangers in the waning seconds of regulation, 5-4. Necas had two assists in that one and Drury scored his first goal with Colorado.
“We got to turn the page and move on,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said Monday. “We got to continue to play a game that’s going to give us a chance to be successful and collect points.”
Perhaps the Rangers could turn the page on that loss. But they can’t quite turn the page on the big trade, at least not yet. They host Rantanen and the Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
“Really good players changed jerseys, and we had them back to back,” Laviolette explained. “We had to face them anyway inside of these two games.”
That’s the coach downplaying things. It’s true the Rangers are very familiar with Necas and Drury, and are with Rantanen, too. But there’s still a bit of a challenge game-planning against these players on their new teams. Rantanen was held without a point in more than 18 minutes of ice time in his Hurricanes debut, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Islanders on Saturday.
Related: 3 things to watch for when Rangers host Hurricanes
‘Crazy blockbuster deal’ catches Rangers attention ahead of showdown with Hurricanes
While the Rangers, and all other teams around the NHL, remain most focused on what they can control in their own locker room, it’s hard to ignore such a massive trade between two contenders.
“That’s a pretty big deal, that’s blockbuster for sure,” defenseman Braden Schneider said Saturday. “It’s a crazy blockbuster deal for the League.”
As for how this affects the Rangers when they play the Hurricanes on Tuesday?
“They’re a fast team and they’ve got more speed now, too,” Schneider offered. “I’m curious to see how they look.”
Again, leave it to Laviolette to downplay how any of this affects the Rangers right now.
“They’re all good players. They just changed lines and colors,” he said.
It is a big deal that the Hurricanes added a two-time 100-point scorer, one who’s also a 2022 Stanley Cup champion. Rantanen is sixth in the NHL with 64 points and tied for 10th with 39 assists this season.
His addition is part of a roster makeover in Carolina, which lost Jake Guentzel, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei this past offseason. The Hurricanes lost in the 2024 Eastern Conference Second Round in six games to the Rangers.
The Hurricanes are second in the Metropolitan Division and clearly have their sights set on winning the Stanley Cup. The Rangers, who were two wins away from a trip to the Cup Final appearance last spring, have only recently righted their ship after a 4-15-0 stretch in November and December. The game Tuesday is a big one for the Rangers, who are three points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Adding Rantanen to an already potent offense solidifies Carolina as one of the teams to beat in the East. If New York wants any chance at reaching the postseason and having success there, it will need to be able to compete with teams like Carolina. The Rangers have already lost twice to the Hurricanes this season, 4-3 in Raleigh on Thanksgiving Eve and 3-1 at the Garden on Dec. 22.
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