Mikko Rantanen continues to tell his side of the trade story

Former Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen isn’t shy about discussing the shocking trade that sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes.

One day after Rantanen said he “was willing to take a significant discount from my market value” to stay with Colorado, he did another interview.

Jesse Montano from Guerilla Sports is in New York to cover the Avalanche and Islanders on Tuesday night, and made a detour to chat with Rantanen. The Hurricanes are playing the Rangers, so Montano caught up with Rantanen after morning skate.

It was more of the same for the ex-Avalanche superstar, who thought he’d have time to negotiate a contract extension with Colorado. The NHL trade deadline isn’t until March 7, but Avs GM Chris MacFarland traded Rantanen on Jan. 24.

Here’s a look at the full interview from Rantanen on Tuesday.

EXCLUSIVE: 🗣️Mikko Rantanen

The Carolina Hurricanes are in New York tonight, facing off against the Rangers. We caught up with Mikko Rantanen, just four days after his trade from Colorado.#GoAvsGo | #CauseChaos | @gs_off_ice pic.twitter.com/Ud7E43Wfuz

— Guerilla Sports (@guerillasports_) January 28, 2025

“I thought it was gonna be an extension for sure. I can’t lie about that. But yeah, it was surprising because there was still some time until the deadline,” Rantanen said.

MacFarland was apparently done negotiating, instead trading Rantanen to the Hurricanes in exchange for Martin Necas and Jack Drury. He clearly didn’t want to be the GM that lost Rantanen for nothing if he walked as a free agent this offseason, something Rantanen gets.

“I totally understand they didn’t want to lose for free, but yeah, it surprised me for sure. I didn’t expect it,” Rantanen said.

Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon didn’t expect the trade either, and head coach Jared Bednar also seemed disappointed in the whole situation.

MacFarland called it a “tough decision” and said Rantanen “earned the right to be an unrestricted free agent.”

Regardless, there’s a lot of layers to this story. Mikko Rantanen claims he was willing to take a discount. Apparently for Colorado, it wasn’t enough. And now, they’ll chase a Stanley Cup without a top-10 player in franchise history.

We’ll see if more comes out over the coming weeks, months and even years, but right now there’s different narratives emerging from different parties.

Related

Cale Makar voted NHL’s best defenseman a fifth year in a rowAvalanche name new head coach for AHL affiliate EaglesFive most important Avalanche games during the 2026-27 seasonNHL drops schedule for 2026-27 Avalanche seasonFirst Avalanche game of 2026-27 season announced, it’s in SeptemberAvs make three more depth signings, including forward with 477 NHL games