By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said former Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen was the first player to leave the franchise because he didn’t like it.

Brind’Amour made his comments during an interview with 99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold on Sunday’s pregame show. Gold included the comments in his postgame “Canes Corner” podcast. The Brind’Amour quotes start at 13:44.

The Hurricanes traded Rantanen to the Dallas Stars before Friday’s NHL trade deadline. Carolina acquired Rantanen, a free agent-to-be, in a January deal with Colorado. Rantanen told the Hurricanes he would not sign a long-term deal with the franchise, prompting Carolina to trade him again to Dallas, where he signed an eight-year, $96 million deal.

“There’s not been one guy that has left here because they didn’t like it here – except for Mikko,” Brind’Amour told Gold. “He didn’t not like it. When he showed up, he said there’s four teams I’ll go play for, well, you’re not one of them. So there’s 28 other teams he wasn’t going to. The better question is should we have known that before we signed him or attempted to sign him.”

The Rantanen situation has prompted comparisons to the Canes’ failure to sign Jake Guentzel to a long-term contract after trading for him in hte middle of last season. Carolina traded Guentzel’s rights to Tampa Bay before the free agent period. He signed a seven-year, $63-million deal with Tampa Bay.

“{Jake] Guentzel was a totally opposite thing,” Brind’Amour said. “If we had offered him the contract we offered him at the end, he’s here. But we didn’t for whatever reason. That’s a different conversation.

“And all the other guys that walked out of here in free agency is because thye got paid a lot more money than we were offering. They all wanted to stay.”

Brind’Amour said that Rantenen told the Hurricanes he had a limited number of teams that he would sign with.

His play in 13 games with Carolina was uninspired: two goals, four assists, minus-3 plus/minus. Rantanen, who had 25 goals in 49 games with Colorado this season, has two goals in his first two games with the Stars.

“Mikko is the only one that I’ve been associated with that said this is not for me and I think there are other circumstances on that,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s not because of the hockey. It was becuase, I think, his family, it wasn’t for him.

“Good. I appreciate that he let us know that. We probably should have known that before we made the deal. Maybe that changes how we go about things.”

Some outlets have ranked the Hurricanes among the trade deadline losers. But general manager Eric Tulsky said the franchise was willing to make a big swing to acquire a player like Rantanen.

The Hurricanes added Logan Stankoven as well as two conditional first-round picks (2026, 2028) and two third-round picks (2027, 2027) from the Stars for Rantanen. Carolina also traded for Mark Jankowski from Nashville on Friday’s deadline. The pair combined for three goals in Sunday’s win.

Carolina traded Martin Necas and Jack Drury to Colorado as part of a three-way trade to acquire Rantanen and Taylor Hall (from Chicago).

“When you’re bringing in a player like Mikko, the upside of having that work out long-term is worth that risk in my mind,” Tulsky said Friday. “Obviously, we didn’t want it to end with him being traded away; that wasn’t the goal, but that trade allowed us to bring in other pieces that will help us. It brings in a player who is going to be a long-term fit for us, who plays like he was born to be a Carolina Hurricane, and it brings in a lot of draft capital to help us keep reloading the team going forward.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com