After one of the biggest in-season blockbuster trades in recent history, could the Mikko Rantanen deal have a rippling effect?

Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal with Carolina, helping the Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Thursday night. Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the sixth time in seven games.

The Blackhawks could expedite their painstaking rebuilding process and be significant players in free agency this summer.

The Avalanche made one of the biggest trades in Colorado sports history last week when it sent away star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes in a deal that included the Blackhawks. In return, the Avs received forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, plus a pair of draft picks (2025 second-rounder and 2026 fourth-rounder).

The Avalanche began the process of moving on with its first win since the deal Sunday afternoon against the Rangers. Drury scored a goal. Necas was dynamic, collecting two assists and hitting both the crossbar and post with shots while playing in Rantanen’s old spot next to MacKinnon.

The word “blockbuster” gets thrown around a little too often in today’s NHL, often for trades unworthy of the term, in the same way that anything might feel like a five-star meal to a starving man. But the deal that dropped on Friday night? That one deserves the title, no questions asked.

Team Finland announced their leadership group for the 4 Nations Face-Off today and both Carolina Hurricanes forwards Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen were named alternate captains. Finland will be captained by Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Mikael Granlund of the San Jose Sharks will also serve as an alternate captain.

Mikko Rantanen says he was willing to take a discount to stay with the Avalanche before the Hurricanes trade happened.

Last night, 20 teams were in action. And the action did not disappoint. Here are the results and highlights: Another goal for Alex Ovechkin and another shutout for Marc-Andre Fleury were just some of the notable moments from Thursday’s 10-game slate.

The tremors from the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster were still echoing around the league when another bomb dropped in Vancouver this week.

Speculation surrounding Mitch Marner’s future with the Toronto Maple Leafs continues and won't stop until we get past the March 7 NHL trade deadline. That said, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes the star forward has no intention of waiving his no-trade clause before the season ends, thus blocking any potential deal from happening.