What’s the biggest buzz right now in the world of the National Hockey League? The NHL trade deadline. It is just two days away, and fans can’t relax anymore. We’re talking about one of the biggest names in the NHL trade this year, Mikko Rantanen, and he is no exception. Trade talks and rumors have already engulfed Rantanen as the Carolina Hurricanes‘ right winger is in the last year of his contract. But before we look into his contract details, an NHL insider has dropped the latest update on Mikko Rantanen’s trade.

Elliotte Friedman was on TNT today, and he has given an update on Mikko’s trade to Los Angeles. Shocked much? One of the panel members asked Elliotte about the possibility of trading Mikko Rantanen to the Los Angeles Kings. And Friedman said, “I think Carolina is doing its due diligence as we speak, trying to see what the market is for Rantanen. I believe they’ve talked to several teams.”

The NHL insider continued to say, “I think one of the biggest questions that’s being asked right now is will Rantanen extend? I think there are some teams that would look at him only as a rental, but I think there are other teams that would really like to see if they could sign him.” He further dropped a bombshell, examining the most likely trade destinations for Rantanen. 

Elliotte Friedman said that he believed there are other teams also interested in Mikko. “I think some of the other teams that have looked at it are Dallas and Toronto.” These are the top spots for the right winger, as both teams have enough cap space with them. The Dallas Stars have a projected cap space of more than $24,000,000, which can easily ingest Mikko’s $9,250,000 annual salary. 

Just look at Mikko Rantanen’s stats of the season. This will determine his possible trade. After playing, 61 games in the 2024-25 season, Mikko scored 27 goals and 43 assists which makes is points tally 70 points. And hold on, we aren’t done yet. Mikko Ranks 9th in the entire league right now in scoring points. He is also 16th in goals and 19th in assists. Smashing, right? 

And this makes his trade deal more interesting; more teams covet this beast for themselves. The trades are happening ahead of playoffs, and shopping for a jet rocket like Rantanen can propel any team to take off. But after the January 24th trade to the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the most talked about franchise destinations for Rantanen has been the Toronto Maple Leafs. As Elliotte Friedman also revealed, the Leafs are also interested in him. 

The Maple Leafs’ 3-Asset Trade Package could land Mikko Rantanen, BUT…

NHL’s two of the most important trades of the season before the deadline were J.T. Miller‘s trade to the New York Rangers by the Vancouver Canucks and Mikko Rantanen’s trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. But as the trade deadline nears and Mikko’s contract soon nearing expiry, he is all set to hit free agency. So, from a rumors standpoint, there are a lot of teams involved, but, per NHL insider Nick Kypreos, the Toronto Maple Leafs can be a good spot. He has explained the possible trade with three top entities involved.

Well, we can’t guess randomly, but we can definitely rely on NHL insider’s assimilation of Mikko Rantanen’s trade. According to The Star’s Nick Kypreos, the Toronto Maple Leafs need a three-asset package to land Rantanen in Toronto. “If the Leafs are able to satisfy the Hurricanes’ trade demands — a package that includes one of their top prospects (Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten), plus Bobby McMann and a draft pick should do it — Rantanen could be the perfect rental player,” Nick Kypreos said on a podcast. 

Easton Cowan is a rookie with three-year $2,807,500 worth of contract with the Maple Leafs which ends in 2025. The other prospects involved who Kypreos mentioned, Fraser Minten, is also in the final year of his three-year $2,625,000 contract while Bobby McMann will also end his $2,700,000 worth contract extension with the Maple Leafs in 2025. BUT… there is a catch.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, “I find it very hard to believe that if Rantanen got out there, Toronto wouldn’t at least see what it’d take to do it.” How so? Well, it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs’s cap situation. According to PuckPedia, under the new estimates, the Leafs are projected to have $28.8 million in free cap space for 2025-26 whereas they currently have $2.2 million in cap space. 

So the situation may deteriorate for the Leafs if they want Mikko Rantanen this year, whose value is more than 9 million dollars as average salary. So, it mostly depends on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ efforts to trade multiple players with suitable contracts in order to land Rantanen for Toronto. But that also risks increasing the cap hit for the next year. Phew! Thats is a lot of work and math to do for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Let’s wait till Friday’s NHL deadline to see where this goes.