“You lose a superstar, so we’re going to have to try to replace him in the aggregate,” mused Chris MacFarland, the Avalanche general manager who sent the 6-foot-4-inch beast that is Rantanen to the Hurricanes. “You know, 50-goal scorers don’t grow on trees.”
The Bruins have one of those certified 50G scorers in David Pastrnak, who slid home the empty-netter that capped the two-goal win over the Rantanenless team from the Rockies. Just like Rantanen, Pastrnak is 28 years old, and it doesn’t take much to imagine the hangover and hollering the Hub of Hockey would be experiencing if GM Don Sweeney found himself having to wheel Pasta out of town.
To be clear, the Avalanche got backed into a corner, with Rantanen less than six months from reaching unrestricted free agency July 1, and already with uber talents Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar costing a combined $21.6 million against the league’s current $88 million max cap.
Rantanen has been rumored to be seeking $14 million per season (likely for the eight-year max), and he has both the game and career numbers (619 games, 681 points) to justify his ask. It would be more than MacKinnon’s $12.6 million, but adjusting for the expected bump in league cap, it would be within pennies of what MacKinnon received based on percentage against the cap.
“A superstar player and a superstar person,” noted MacFarland, lamenting that he felt he had no choice as the club’s chief asset manager to wheel Rantanen. “He had the UFA card and we felt this is what we had to do.”
In return, the Avalanche did extremely well, netting the talented Martin Necas (potential for 90-100 points) and ex-Harvard pivot Jack Drury from the Hurricanes.
It was bone and sinew for Carolina to surrender, but Rantanen makes Rod Brind’Amour’s club more Cup fit. In the end, if the Hurricanes don’t win the Cup and Rantanen flees (as Jake Guentzel did last spring after his acquisition from the Penguins), it will hurt beyond bone and sinew. Such is the eternal seduction, the enticing whisper to the ear, of the Cup.
Bruins fans have lived this pain the last 50 years, starting with Phil Esposito, 33, getting dealt to the Rangers on Nov. 7, 1975, in the swap for Jean Ratelle and Brad Park. Esposito, just off a 61-66–127 season, was even more of a scoring stud than Rantanen. He also was a core member of the swashbuckling Big Bad Bruins, the club’s golden era. It was a culture shock to the Black-and-Gold faithful.
The fans hated it, but GM Harry Sinden was vindicated over the next few years. Arguably, it proved to be a steal — a discussion that still spins barstools across New England.
We then saw Sinden deal future Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, then 39, to the Avalanche at the March 2000 trade deadline. Mike O’Connell wheeled Joe Thornton, 26, to San Jose on Nov. 30, 2005. Less than eight years later, Peter Chiarelli followed up the 2011 Cup win by dishing 21-year-old Tyler Seguin to Dallas.
Other than the Esposito swap to the Broadway Blueshirts, the “aggregate” was not kind to the Bruins. None of the assets coming back came anywhere close to matching Bourque or Thornton or Seguin, be it when comparing individual talents or when totaling their collective contributions.
Which is to say, the dollar that was Esposito (joined by Carol Vadnais) brought back matching shiny 50-cent pieces in Ratelle and Park. The silver dollars that were Bourque, Thornton, and Seguin were exchanged for a pocketful of promises and loose change.
The Bronx-raised MacFarland, who played club hockey at Pace, has become an experienced hand at losing impact roster talent to the UFA market. Most GMs know that pain. Sweeney lived it here in recent years when opting to let Torey Krug (St. Louis) and Jake DeBrusk (Vancouver) go for nothing but memories. Make no mistake, they were not in Rantanen’s class.
Under MacFarland’s watch, following the 2022 Cup, the Avalanche watched Nazem Kadri (Calgary), André Burakovsky (Seattle), Darcy Kuemper (Washington), and J.T. Compher (Detroit) leave Dodge. All put their names on the ’22 Cup before bidding adieu.
So, as painful as it is, and will be, for Avalanche fandom to see Rantanen in those Hurricane threads, and perhaps more painful if he hoists the Cup this June, their GM made the move he felt was right.
Unstated in it all, he had to feel that the lineup, even with Rantanen, didn’t have enough punch to win the Cup.
“We are going to miss him — no ifs, ands, or buts about that,” admitted MacFarland, “but . . . we look forward.”
These are the days, as a fan, “your heartstrings get tugged,” said the GM, adding, “that’s why we all do this.”
If Bruins fans know anything, it’s the heartstring and the tug, and the sweet sorrow of saying so long.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at [email protected].
