For one, Brind’Amour is pairing his two best players by putting them on a line together. Aho has led the Hurricanes in scoring in six of the last seven seasons, and Rantanen was a superstar in Colorado, logging more minutes than any forward in the league since the start of the 2021-22 season.

The Finnish winger, obtained in mega trade with the Colorado Avalanche, earned his first goal as a Hurricane, while fellow newcomer Taylor Hall was a late scratch with an illness.

Veteran forward Taylor Hall has joined his seventh team last week, as he was included in the blockbuster three-team trade between the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes; he was traded from Chicago to Carolina, and it's a move that he approves of.

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,

Plus the Panthers’ declining rush game, extreme special teams in Vegas and a couple of goalies who are deserving of some recognition.

The Hawks will receive a third-round draft pick, but the Hurricanes' acquisition of Mikko Rantanen from the Avalanche is the far bigger part of the trade Friday, per reports.

As the NBA trade deadline looms, Kevin O'Connor and Tom Haberstroh team up to talk the hottest trade rumors, the latest on Jimmy Butler, which teams should start tanking and more. There is no telling what the figure skaters and their coaches and parents who perished in the crash of Flight 5342 were set to achieve on or off the ice.

It’ll be hard to assess the impact of the Carolina Hurricanes’ acquisition of Mikko Rantanen for months, but a goal in his Lenovo Center debut doesn’t hurt.

Rantanen scored his 26th goal of the season in Thursday's 3-2 win over Chicago.

No. 2 Michigan State allowed two goals in the third period in a 4-2 loss against No. 11 Ohio State on Thursday at Value City Arena.

MONTREAL (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season in likely his final game in Montreal, helping the Minnesota Wild beat the Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night.