Fantasy Take: Rantanen and Necas Traded in 3 Way Deal

Ian Gooding

2025-01-25

If you are a fan of blockbuster trades, you're in luck. A major three-way trade involving Carolina, Colorado, and Chicago was completed late Friday.

The meat of this trade was between Colorado and Carolina, with the two main principals being Mikko Rantanen (to Carolina) and Martin Necas (to Colorado). Considering both are top-15 scorers in total points and both are above the point-per-game mark, this trade is as big as it gets. Let's take this player by player for the principals involved.

Mikko Rantanen

Rantanen could play on the Hurricanes' top line beside fellow Finn Sebastian Aho, possibly with Andrei Svechnikov on the other wing. Losing a regular linemate such as the NHL's leading scorer in Nathan MacKinnon might seem like a loss, considering that 35 of Rantanen's 45 even-strength points and all 19 of Rantanen's power-play points also involved MacKinnon. However, Aho is a productive scorer on his own merit, currently averaging a point-per-game for the fifth time in the past seven seasons. Since the Canes are a high-scoring team, any production reduction should be minimal, even if Aho and Rantanen play on separate lines.

Based on Carolina's Last 3 Game Lines on Frozen Tools, Jackson Blake would be bumped off the top line should Rantanen end up there. Blake had been averaging nearly 15 minutes per game in Quarter 3 after averaging just under 12 minutes per game over Quarters 1 and 2.

Taylor Hall

Hall was in a good spot playing for the Blackhawks in a top-6 role, but he wasn't always playing alongside Connor Bedard and he wasn't always on the top power play. However, things seem to be even less certain in Carolina, where Svechnikov occupies the left side and Seth Jarvis can play there too. In other words, this seems like the scenario of a veteran moving to a team stocking up at the trade deadline, which doesn't help the player fantasy wise if they are pushed down a deep lineup. At 33 years of age, Hall isn't nearly the player he used to be, in particular when compared to his 2017-18 Hart Trophy win. But if he finds the right linemates, perhaps this trade boosts his value and he becomes a hot waiver-wire commodity down the stretch.

Martin Necas

Necas with MacKinnon? Yeah, we'll take that! Assuming the two speed merchants are lined up together, Necas could easily reverse a Quarter 2 slide that saw him register just 13 points in 22 games after busting out with 37 points in 22 games in Quarter 1 (Necas has six points in five games in Quarter 3). Necas's most frequent center this season has been Jesperi Kotkaniemi, so anyone holding onto Necas stock should be excited about the possibilities.

Necas has averaged just over 18 minutes per game this season, yet MacKinnon and Rantanen have both averaged 22 minutes per game. Artturi Lehkonen, who has often skated on the top line, averages 21 minutes per game, so Necas could play at least three minutes per game more while on a line with the league's top scorer. Necas's ceiling isn't as high as Rantanen's, but this trade should be considered a net positive for Necas.

Necas centering a second line with Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin both on the MacKinnon line is another possibility. If that's the case, Necas should be fine on his own, producing at Carolina-like levels. He was almost never on Aho's line in Carolina.

Jack Drury

Drury has been a bottom-6 forward for the Canes, averaging just under 13 minutes per game. He may not break into the Avalanche's top 6, but he should help boost a weak bottom 6. That could lead to more icetime and a more significant role, which can only help his fantasy value. That being said, the Avalanche are rumored to be shopping for a second-line center, which could bump him down the lineup.

Players this helps, in order:

Necas

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Aho

Svechnikov

Lehkonen/Drouin

Drury

Players this hurts, in order:

Blake

Hall

MacKinnon

Rantanen

Discuss the trade in this thread on the Forum.

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23.7 MARTIN NECAS NATHAN MACKINNON ARTTURI LEHKONEN
22.4 VALERI NICHUSHKIN BROCK NELSON GABRIEL LANDESKOG
19.0 LOGAN O'CONNOR PARKER KELLY JACK DRURY

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