With the Dallas Stars eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it seems the Stars' fanbase is jumping on the Carolina Hurricanes bandwagon after watching one of our former prospects blossom in the postseason. The Hurricanes made the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, and it's all because of how Logan Stankoven is finding his scoring stride at the right time.
While it's unkown what was wrong with Mikko Rantanen in the first round of the playoffs vs. the Minnesota Wild, the Stars have found a solid top line player. What's really impressed me was Rantanen's ability to dish out assists this season. I loved how everyone was joking on social media about Rantanen becoming a fan of apples.
Now, getting to the main point of our article. Based on the success of both players in the huge blockbuster trade last season, it seems like both franchises won the trade. If you think about it, it feels just like the Trae Young for Luka Doncic trade with the Dallas Mavericks. Both teams got the player they wanted and succeeded.
Some of you are saying, "Brian, if Mikko Rantanen wasn't able to produce offense against the Wild, did Dallas really win the trade?" Dallas actually got the player they were looking for before the postseason. Last year, the Stars were looking for a player who would be a constant scorer in the postseason. Rantanen fits that bill to a T.
Something tells me Rantanen wasn't as effective against the Wild in the first round because he was probably hurt. He might still have been dealing with the lingering effects of his injury, which he sustained at the Olympics in Italy. While he did heal up, you could tell he was not skating fast, and he might have come back at not 100%. We have yet to find that out, but we could this upcoming week.
Glen Gulutzan did tell Dallas Morning News Columnist Tim Cowlishaw earlier in the playoff series that Rantanen did completely heal from that injury. Rantanen must have got injured again as the series went along in the Game 3 to 4 range. It was around that time that Rantanen looked iffy skating. In the other games, the Wild shut him down.
We saw the healthy version of Moose last season when he scored that hat trick in eight minutes against the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the postseason. That's the type of elite player the Stars were looking to add to their already stacked offense last season. While Tyler Seguin's leg injury played a part in that, it might have been a blessing in disguise.
Think about this for a second: if you were in Jim Nill's shoes and the Hurricanes offered you Mikko Rantanen, with the only player they wanted in return being Logan Stankoven, along with draft picks, would you do it? Stankoven was a rookie who wasn't finding any traction on offense and wouldn't have been an X-factor in the playoffs last season when they lost to Edmonton a second year in a row.
Dallas got the guy they needed to go far in the postseason, while the Hurricanes added some youth to their aging roster. In my opinion, both parties got what they wanted and succeeded this season. While it would be interesting to see what Stankoven's role would be in Glen Gulutzan's system, I think he's a better fit with the Hurricanes and their physical style of play.
Now I hope that the Hurricanes go far and make the Stanley Cup Finals. Cardiac Cane is a great FanSided page. If you want to follow their playoff run, check out their website. Ben Huffman does a great job covering the Hurricanes. They love Stankoven as much as we do.
It will be interesting to see how this trade pans out over the next decade, since both players are signed to long-term deals. Could we see multiple Stanley Cup titles because of Rantanen's ability to score while fully healthy? Does Stankoven's energy give the Hurricanes life in the regular and postseason? For now, it seems both teams won the trade that was made at the trade deadline last season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google