The 2025 NHL trade deadline is quickly approaching, which means we are nearing the end of the regular season and the playoffs are right around the corner. The Toronto Maple Leafs currently sit fourth in league wide standings, making them a legitimate contender to win their division, putting them in a good spot for a deep postseason run.
Unfortunately, the Toronto Maple Leafs have some major needs at forward and could use some help on the backend as well. There are many solid options but there is one player who truly would be a difference maker, Mikko Rantanen.
Despite being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes from the Colorado Avalanche this season, Mikko Rantanen finds himself amid trade speculation once again with many questioning the stylistic fit and his potential long-term commitment to Raleigh. He is a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) this summer and there is a belief that the Canes may be looking to flip him to recoup assets. Luckily, the Leafs could swoop in and if he re-signs or not, it does not matter as they are firmly in their cup window and need to make big swings to make deep runs.
Of course, this line of thinking is not the norm across the league but Rantanen being available, especially twice in one season is rare. The Finnish winger has been one of the league's best players for much of the past decade and would immediately be a key piece on the Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Need To Trade For Mikko Rantanen
Mikko Rantanen being available presents a unique opportunity for the Leafs who could benefit greatly from adding him onto the team. The most attractive part of a Rantanen acquisition, aside from his abilities, is that his contract has already been 50% retained meaning that his current caphit is only $4.625 million. He is also eligible to have his salary retained another 50%, meaning that the Leafs could acquire him at just over a $2.3 million price tag.
This low salary gives the franchise a lot of flexibility for trades, allowing them to acquire him at $2.3 million and not have to give up a lot in terms of current roster players, especially with their long-term injured reserve (LTIR) situation. Although, if the team does end up shedding Max Domi's salary to make room, they could have even more flexibility to make more moves. This is where the topic of acquisition cost comes into play. If the team is not forced to give up a big money player in return, what could a Rantanen trade look like now?
There is not a lot of trade history to go off of for the Carolina Hurricanes rookie GM Eric Tulsky and with his acquisition of Rantanen already throwing precedence out the window, it makes it difficult as an outsider to determine a fair value trade. As such, I will have to use my best judgement and given that Tulsky acquired Rantanen for Martin Necas and the team sits in the top-half of the league in standings, I assume that he would not want to completely lose out on roster players. I also think that he would be wanting to recoup some of the future assets that he traded away for Rantanen, those being a 2025 second and a 2026 fourth. Using all of this, I think I have come up with some assets that could be used to pull-off a deal with the Canes.
So, the roster players that I think make the most sense are: Nick Robertson and Max Domi. Domi has history in Carolina, being a deadline add back in 2022 and he performed admirably for the club down the stretch scoring six points in 14 playoff games. Robertson seems like the type of player that an analytics minded executive like Tulsky could be salivating at the opportunity to help breakout and head coach Rod Brind'Amour would certainly enjoy his work ethic on and off the ice.
The future assets, I am pulling from an article I wrote recently detailing the trade chips that the Leafs could use at the deadline. This being a 2026 first round pick, as well as a handful of prospects in Nikita Grebenkin, Easton Cowan, and Fraser Minten. Specifically, I think Grebenkin and/or Fraser Minten could be most enticing to a team in the Hurricanes' position given their proximity to being impact NHL players. All stats and information viaPuckpedia.comandNHL.com
Overall, I think the trade could look something like this:
Maple Leafs acquire:
- Mikko Rantanen
Hurricanes acquire:
- Max Domi, Nick Robertson, 1st Round pIck, Easton Cowan
Third-Party team acquires:
- Mid-round pick for retaining $2.3125 Million of Rantanen's contract
I think as a team, the Maple Leafs have to go all-in every opportunity that they get and with a star player in Rantanen being available, there is no better opportunity than now. Treliving and Co. should spare no cost to make tangible improvements to the team in pursuit of winning the franchise's first Stanley Cup victory since 1967.