Hockey

Colorado Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen was reportedly acquired by the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team trade on Friday night.

Chicago Blackhawks winger Taylor Hall will also be heading to Carolina as part of the deal, according to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.

Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, Hurricanes centers Martin Nečas and Jack Drury will be heading to the Avalanche in the trade.

It's a shocking move, as Rantanen spent his entire career in Colorado since making his debut during the 2015-16 season. Meanwhile, Hall was in the midst of his second year with the Blackhawks.

Fans were stunned by the deal.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported that the Blackhawks will be receiving a third-round pick as part of the trade, although Seravalli noted that the call to officially make the deal has "not yet been conducted."

Rantanen was selected by the Avalanche with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry draft. His 394 career assists and 681 career points both rank No. 7 on Colorado's all-time leaderboard.

The 28-year-old has surpassed 100 points in each of the prior two seasons, while his 55 goals during his 2022-23 campaign ranked No. 3 among all players. Rantanen helped lead the Avalanche to their Stanley Cup victory in 2022.

In 49 games this season, he's recorded 25 goals and 39 assists.

Rantanen is currently slated to hit free agency at the end of the year, but Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman revealed that a contract extension isn't a part of the deal.

As for Hall, a trade appeared to be brewing after he was scratched from Chicago's clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.

The Hurricanes will be the 33-year-old's sixth team since the start of the 2019-20 season. Hall appeared in just 10 games with the Blackhawks during his first year with the organization, as he suffered a torn ACL in Nov. 2023.

The 2018 Hart Trophy winner was able to return before the start of the regular season, racking up nine goals and 15 assists across 46 appearances while averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time.

As the Canes look to secure their seventh consecutive playoff appearance, they made a blockbuster move to help them do so.

Mikko Rantanen, who played parts of ten seasons and won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, is joining the Carolina Hurricanes, the team announced Friday.

Rantanen is being moved in a three-team deal that will also send veteran winger Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Hurricanes, as first reported by Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli and confirmed by ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

Hurricanes centers Martin Nečas and Jack Drury are going to the Avs as part of the deal.

Rantanen is playing on an expiring contract that will not be extended as part of the trade, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Athletic's Scott Powers first reported that the Blackhawks are taking on half of Rantanen's $9.25 million cap hit as part of the deal. The Hawks will meanwhile let go of the entirety of Hall's $6 million salary, per Powers.

The Canes could be adding one of the most productive wingers in the league by acquiring Rantanen, who ranks sixth in the NHL with 64 points in 49 games.

Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon have been one of the best duos in the NHL for years, leading the franchise to the 2022 Stanley Cup and becoming the first pair of Avs players to each record back-to-back 40-goal, 100-point seasons last spring.

Having just turned 28 in October, Rantanen could be set for a raise on his next contract from the $9.25 million he is making this season.

Even if the Canes are not able to extend him after this season, potentially slotting Rantanen in alongside Sebastian Aho on the top line just for the next few months could give the Hurricanes' offense an enormous boost as they gear up for a potential Stanley Cup run.

The Hurricanes meanwhile could lose two centers in Nečas and Drury.

Nečas, who anchored the third line, meanwhile avoided hitting the trade deadline as a potential rental by inking a two-year, $13 million extension before the season.

The Canes' center depth will now be tested as players like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal step up in Nečas' absence.

Hall heads to Raleigh in the final year of the four-year, $24 million deal he signed with the Boston Bruins ahead of the 2021-22 season. He said last week that he wanted to sign an extension in Chicago, but had "a feeling that's not really in the cards," per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Hall was in the middle of his second season with the Blackhawks, although he missed almost the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign after undergoing ACL surgery in November 2023. He was skating mostly on the Blackhawks' fourth line, and could take on a similar role in North Carolina.

The Hurricanes have previously been tied to trade interest in Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reported Thursday that the Hurricanes and New York Rangers had "permission to talk" with Miller, who has a full no-trade clause on his contract.

If the reported trade impacts the likelihood the Canes can find the cap space to acquire Miller, the Rangers could have a better chance of convincing the winger to agree to come to Manhattan.

The NHL's newest club may not enter the 2025-26 NHL season as the Utah Yeti or Utah Yetis.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the Utah Hockey Club's application for the name, according to KSL's Ryan Miller.

Additionally, Utah struck out on the Blizzard, Outlaws, Mammoth, Venom and HC names, according to The Athletic's Chris Johnston. The team "has three months from the dates of the refusals to address various concerns and move forward with the trademark process. The Mammoth refusal came in November and the rest in January," Johnston added.

The USPTO cited "likelihood of confusion" with other registered logos, including that of the drinkware and cooler brand YETI, in their Jan. 9 denial, according to Miller.

The Utah Hockey Club says it still expects to take on a new name ahead of its second season in the league.

"We will continue to involve the community in the final stages of the naming and branding process and are fully on track with our plans to announce a permanent name and identity ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season," president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong said in a Thursday statement, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

The Yetis were one of six final candidates for team names decided by the franchise's online poll last summer. Other final options included the Utah Hockey Club as well as the Utah Blizzard, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws and Utah Venom.

Utah has also run into trademark issues surrounding Blizzard and Venom, both of which were rejected by USPTO due to "likelihood of confusion," per Miller.

The club also hasn't been able to trademark Utah Hockey Club, but could ostensibly still register the Utah HC, Mammoth or Outlaws names, according to Miller.

Original surveys included more than a dozen other options for team names including the Blast, Powder, Mountaineers, Caribou, Squall, Hive, Freeze, Fury, Glaciers, Canyons and Ice.

According to Wyshynski, it was "widely expected, even among Utah players," that the club would enter the 2024-25 season as the Yeti or Yetis.

Utah forward Clayton Keller said in September ahead of the club's inaugural season that it "sounds like it's going to be the Yeti" going forward.

Although Armstrong did not confirm which name the club was leaning toward, he said in December that Utah was "deep in the design process" for next season's jerseys.

There is still a chance the Utah Hockey Club could petition USPTO for the Yeti or Yetis name. The team has three months from the date of the Jan. 9 denial to further its argument for the trademark claim, according to Miller.

The Utah Hockey Club entered the NHL ahead of the 2024-25 season after the Arizona Coyotes relocated to Salt Lake City. The franchise went into its inaugural season with a temporary name and branding, in anticipation of unveiling a permanent identity ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Whichever nickname ends up being the final choice, it looks like the franchise plans to stick with Utah rather than Salt Lake City as the first part of their next team name.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman indicated Connor McDavid's three-game suspension is part of the league's efforts to crack down on hits to the head.

"I think in terms of supplemental discipline, cross-check to the face or the head has to be dealt with," Bettman told reporters Thursday (h/t The Athletic's Michael Russo and Joe Smith.)

The suspension involved an incident that took place on Jan. 19, when Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland appeared to hold McDavid down during the final 30 seconds of a one-goal game. The Edmonton Oilers captain retaliated by hitting Garland in the face.

McDavid is set to serve the third game of his suspension when the Oilers take on the Buffalo Sabres Saturday at home.

This marks the second time McDavid has been suspended by the league. He was previously assessed a two-game suspension, also for an illegal check to the head, which took place during a February 2019 game against the New York Islanders.

Between the two suspensions, McDavid has forfeited a total of more than $329,000 in missed salary.

As was the case with his 2019 suspension, both the Oilers and McDavid expressed displeasure with the NHL's recent decision to suspend the star.

The Oilers said in a statement that the franchise was "disappointed" in the NHL's decision, while McDavid said the incident could have been avoided had referees blown the play dead to penalize Garland when he held McDavid down to the ice.

"The longer it goes, the more you're thinking there's going to be something," McDavid said about the penalty not being called on Garland, per Jamie Umbach of EdmontonOilers.com.

McDavid continued, per Umbach:

I think every player across the league just wants to see the game called [consistently.] A penalty in the first is a penalty in the third. A penalty in October is a penalty in April. So I think guys just want that standard and that consistency.

I would say a big part of it is just the consistency, which is tough to ask for. That goes from game to game, ref to ref, so as I said, the refs have a hard job. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the refs and the work that they do. It's a thankless job. It really is. But with that being said, just call the game [consistent] to start the season."

Bettman provided his own view on the incident when asked how the NHL analyzed its own officiating.

Per Russo and Smith, Bettman said the officials decided not to whistle down Garland's play in part because the puck was in the offensive zone for the trailing Oilers:

Every call is a judgment call, and it's situational. And I believe the referees in that situation — what was it, 10 seconds left to go? — decided they didn't want to blow the whistle at that point in time, when two guys were tangled because there were a lot of things that could have happened, which a whistle would have worked at Edmonton's detriment.

I'm not endorsing it or not. I'm just simply saying you've got to look at the context of the whole thing. I understand the frustration, and it's something we're going to continue to monitor.

McDavid will be eligible to return Monday to face the visiting Seattle Kraken.

Getting McDavid back will be a boost for an team looking to oust the Vegas Golden Knights from the top of the Pacific Division. The Oilers captain has been typically dominant when available, racking 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists) through 43 games to start the season.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is the longest-tenured chief executive across all North American professional sports leagues all time at 32 years, but his time at the helm may be coming to a close soon.

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold revealed that news on the latest edition of The Sick Podcast - The Eye Test with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy (32-minute mark), per Michael Russo and Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

Leipold was answering a question about the business of the league, saying that "it's never been in this good of shape," adding "every team is strong." But he then added that "the fact that Gary's retiring, that's a concerning factor" before elaborating further.

"...But that's a couple years down the road and we're doing the planning now, and we have to make sure we get it right when he leaves."

Leipold made clear that Bettman has done very well for the teams and players and that it would be a "sad day" when he's not part of the league anymore.

The Athletic then caught up with Leipold to discuss the matter further.

"Listen, we're like a $5, $6 billion company — the entire league is," Leipold said. "So we have a CEO who's going to be moving on and any transition would cause us to be concerned. And so, really, all I was saying is that we have had a commissioner now for 30 years, maybe a little more, and he has been outstanding. I mean, truly, truly, has been an incredible commissioner and has done great things.

"Now we're going to transition to somebody else, and that should make us all a little concerned that we have to be certain we get the right person. It's a concern that I have that, 'How are we going to get anybody as good as Gary?' The answer is we're not. So who's going to be the second best person, and is that going to be good enough?"

When asked if the executive committee had begun looking for a successor, Leipold replied: "I would say that we have."

Bettman, who was at Minnesota's home game against Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, then spoke with The Athletic. He said that he doesn't have retirement plans or a timeline right now. However, as he noted, he "can't do this forever."

"I raised the specter that at some point this is something the league is going to have to deal with because when you're dealing with a CEO who has been doing this as long as I have, it's a more complicated process," Bettman told The Athletic. "But the only discussion that was had was with three-plus decades at this job, at some point the league is going to have to deal with the reality that I can't do this forever."

Bettman also noted that he referenced his future retirement to the executive committee for the first time before the league's Board of Governors meeting in December.

The 72-year-old Bettman, a lawyer, was worked in the NBA as the league's general counsel and senior vice president in the 1980s. He took office as the NHL's commissioner beginning Feb. 1, 1993.

Bettman has now surpassed Clarence Campbell's time leading the NHL. Campbell was the league's president from 1946-1977.

Bettman's tenure may be in the very early stages of wrapping up given the executive committee's preparations, but it certainly doesn't appear imminent given his comments. So for now, he remains leading the league, which is about to embark on a new venture, the 4 Nations Face-Off, beginning on Feb. 12.