The first major domino has fallen more than a month before the March 7 trade deadline, with Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall going to the Hurricanes and Martin Necas heading to the Avalanche in a three-team blockbuster, according to multiple reports.
Jack Drury will also go from the Hurricanes to the Avalanche, according to ESPN, while the Blackhawks — tied for the fewest points in the NHL but involved in a deal with two contenders — will get a third-round pick and retain 50 percent of Rantanen’s salary.
ESPN reported the Avalanche will also be receiving a second-rounder in 2025 and a fourth-rounder in 2026.
Rantanen, 28, has collected 25 goals and 64 points through 49 games this season, operating at a pace that puts him on track to surpass 40 goals for a third consecutive season.
He helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2021-22 season and hold the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot this year — helping supplement Nathan MacKinnon’s league-leading 75 points — entering Friday’s games.
And he’ll be joined on the Hurricanes — the No. 2 team in the Metropolitan Division — by Hall, the former No. 1 pick in 2010 who won the Hart Trophy in 2017-18 and flashed his potential at times with the Blackhawks this year.
Carolina will mark the seventh different team of Hall’s career, and his production has dipped since the Hart-winning campaign.
Even though the Avalanche parted with Rantanen, they acquired another star forward in Necas — a 100-point contributor the last two seasons with 16 goals and 55 points already this season.
Rantanen and Hall will both be unrestricted free agents after the season, while Necas has one more year on his deal with a $6.5 million average annual value before also becoming an unrestricted free agent.