First Shift 🏒
Rantanen’s whirlwind week will only get crazier Saturday and Sunday.
Rantanen was traded from Colorado to the Carolina Hurricanes in February, and then moved to the Stars just before Friday’s trade deadline. To get that deal done, Rantanen had to sign an eight-year contract extension with Dallas, so he has been through a lot. He flew from Carolina to Edmonton on Friday night, played for the first time with the Stars on Saturday and posted two points (one goal, one assist) and five shots in 21:56 of ice time.
Now, he will play Sunday in Vancouver as the Stars dive into the second night of a back-to-back.
“Crazy,” said the 28-year-old winger.
But as hectic as the week has been, Rantanen said he felt at home with the Stars. Dallas has four other Finnish players, and also has former Colorado teammate Matt Duchene, so weaving himself into the fabric of his new team should be easy, Rantanen said.
“They’re a very, very good team,” Rantanen said Saturday morning. “A lot of Finns on the team, so a lot of friends from before already, which makes the transition always a little bit easier when you know some guys. Obviously [I] have played against them a lot, so they’re familiar faces.”
Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he would try to use the connections, and quickly had Rantanen on a top line with Hintz and Robertson.
“I think our Finnish connection here with him was a big part of this,” DeBoer said. “I’m not sure you sign, sight unseen, with a team for eight years unless you’re comfortable. I know he’s been to Dallas, but he just spent two weeks with the big group of Finnish guys that we have here and I know they’re all real close. I know they played a part in this. I think that’s going to really speed up him jumping in here and helping us out.”
Rantanen brings an immense amount of respect with him. Dallas has had a rivalry with Colorado and faced Rantanen in the playoffs twice in the past five years. Goalie Jake Oettinger said he was impressed by the big forward.
“He’s a game-breaker. He’s a guy you see circled when you play against him. He’s so dangerous,” Oettinger said. “I didn’t realize how big he is until I met him in person today. The fact that he’s going to be wearing green for the next eight years is incredible. We’re really lucky to have him.”
And by adding a player who has 101 points in 81 playoff games, it’s clear Stars management is saying the time to try to win it all is right now.
“It’s incredible,” Oettinger said. “As a player, there’s nothing more you can ask for than the investment by management. They just showed us they think we can win the Stanley Cup, so there’s nothing more you can ask for. Now it’s on us to make their bet worth it.”
DeBoer said Rantanen is one of the best players in the league.
"You can count on two hands the guys that are on that list in the league,” DeBoer said. “The guys on that list don't become available. I think when they do, Jim [Nill] said it, you have to take a really hard look at getting a guy like that."
Rantanen was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer and could not work out an extension with Colorado, so the Avalanche traded him to Carolina. The Hurricanes also struggled in negotiations. Rantanen said he thought the communication with Dallas was different. He said he did his research and decided this is a place he can thrive.
“The trade came as a surprise, and then you have to look at all the angles of your life and on the ice,” Rantanen said of the original trade to Carolina. “Looking at it, Dallas was maybe a better fit for me. I had to think about myself and what fits for me. That’s why it led to Dallas.”
In addition to being friends with many Stars, Rantanen said he respects the entire organization and how it plays. The Stars beat Colorado in six games in the playoffs last season.
“They beat us last year with the Avs and dropped us in the second round,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot of good players, a deep team. It’s exciting because they’ve been very close the last two years to get to the finals. They’ve been right there. Hopefully, I can help them try to get into those games again.”
