The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers were two of the four finalists to land coveted superstar winger Mikko Rantanen. According to insider David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period, the Leafs and Oilers, along with the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers, were Rantanen’s top-four destinations.
During an appearance on "Leafs Morning Take" published Wednesday, Pagnotta offered the following insights into the behind-the-scenes action leading to Rantanen’s move from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stars:
“There was a four-team list… my understanding is, obviously, Dallas, Florida, Toronto, and Edmonton. Those were the four preferred team list. I can confirm with a million percent certainty that he was willing to sign in Toronto and was willing to sign in Edmonton," Pagnotta said.
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The insider's claims touch on what others like Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported that the Leafs had a deal on the table to bring Rantanen over to Toronto. However, as Kypreos said, the Hurricanes were reluctant to move Rantanen to another Eastern Conference club.
As for the Oilers, Pagnotta added that the team was in the mix for Rantanen. While Edmonton was part of Rantanen’s wish list, the Oilers’ offer was reportedly underwhelming, at best.
“Edmonton, he would’ve entered those discussions, because they were on his list, but they had no assets to trade," Pagnotta said.
Pagnotta referred to the lack of high-end prospects or young NHL-ready players that could immediately fit into the Hurricanes’ lineup like Logan Stankoven. The Oilers didn’t have a 2025 first-round pick and used their 2026 first-rounder in the Jake Walman deal. As a result, the Oilers had few picks to dangle in front of Carolina to make the deal work.
In the end, it was Dallas that prevailed given the number of draft picks and a high-caliber player in Stankoven.
Leafs, like Oilers, were close, but not close enough to land Rantanen at deadline
Pagnotta described what Toronto's offer for Rantanen looked like. While some reports suggest that Mitch Marner’s name came up in discussions, Pagnotta singled out Matthew Knies as the Hurricanes' main target. Knies is a high-end scoring winger who’s on a 30-goal pace this season in his second year.
However, according to Pagnotta, the Leafs were unwilling to move Knies on. Instead, Toronto offered Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan. Additionally, Toronto threw in two first-round picks and two third-round picks to sweeten the pot.
The offer wasn’t enough to sway the Hurricanes to send Rantanen their way. Ultimately, Minten was shipped to the Boston Bruins in the Brandon Carlo trade while Cowan remains in Toronto's system and will likely move up the team’s prospect pipeline to No. 1.
Given the way the Rantanen trade resulted, Toronto was close, but not close enough, to land one of the most coveted players at this year’s trade deadline.
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