Eric Tulski Exclusive: Hurricanes GM on pulling Mikko Rantanen trade – ‘You have to be willing to stretch’

The seed was planted last summer. It just never felt real until recently.

The Carolina Hurricanes it really can be done Miko Rantanen in a Trade from the Colorado Avalanche?

“It wasn’t very serious until probably six, eight weeks ago,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky told the The athletic one on Saturday. “We started to engage in conversations about what a deal might look like. There was a lot of back and forth about what we could do. Just what we needed. What do they need? After all, we really got down to brass tacks in the last week or two. And I beat him yesterday (Friday). “

It was a trade that broke the internet on Friday night. Of course, he comes with a lot of risk—if the pending UFA can’t be signed before July 1, which is what happened with the deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel A year ago – but the rare opportunity to add a player of Rantanen’s caliber was too much for the Canes to resist.

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“I mean, it’s a completely different situation than Guentzel,” Tulski said. “Just because of where our team is right now. If you look at what (the pending UFAs) we had at the end of last year we ended up signing for, if we had tried to keep them all, we would have been about $20 million over the cap. As things stand right now, we have about $35 million or $40 million in cap space next year, depending on where the cap goes. So it’s a completely different dynamic.

“And I think it creates a different conversation when we’re trying to extend a player. Obviously, that’s our focus. “

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In fact, the Canes have until July 1st to re-sign Rantanen before he can hit the market, where he will be in huge demand.

And while the sole purpose is just that — extending Rantanen — it also has to be said that if the Bane’s can’t do that, they’re the kind of organization that doesn’t see gaining more cap space as an issue, but rather – an opportunity soon.

“We believe that if you have cap space, you can always find ways to use it,” Tulski said. “So it’s not the end of the world to have a room. But there aren’t many opportunities to add a player of Miko’s caliber. So we won’t take this lightly. Of course, we would like to expand it. “

The Canes are also the only team that can extend the 28-year-old Rantanen to an eight-year deal. He can only get seven years on the open market.

“We’d be happy to get a long-term deal,” Tulski said. “We have the ability to go eight years. We have a long time to negotiate and talk about what he wants and what we can do. He can have time to get to know our team and our city and make sure that’s where he wants to be.

“We hope it all works out.”

There is a potential ace in the hole with Rantanen’s compatriot and close friend I’m Sebastian There to meet him and sell him on a long-term signing.

“I can’t pretend to know for sure how Miko will make his decisions about what he wants to do with his career, but I expect him to like it here,” Tolski said. “A lot of players enjoy playing for Rod (Brind’amour). I think coming to a place where he already has a good friend (ouch) and a locker room full of good people, I’m sure he’ll like it and should fit in well with (everyone). We’re encouraged that he’ll likely end up happy here.

“And I think we can make financially compelling offers given our cap situation.” After all, this is a contract that requires two signatures. So I can’t know for sure what he will do. But I think we can make a compelling pitch. “

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For Tulsky, there would be some valuable lessons from how things went down with Guentzel. They ended up not signing him, but the way the negotiations played out with such a high-profile player was a first for Tulsky, who had just taken over as GM.

Every GM acquires such knowledge along the way.

“That’s definitely true, but I think the biggest difference from last year is our cap situation,” Tulski reiterated.

Of course, a price was paid to get Rantanen (and also Taylor Hall). The Canets gave up two homers in the Martin Nekas and Jack Dury.

“They were two really big pieces of this team and it wasn’t easy to give them up,” Tolski said. “I think the way Marty plays off the rush is going to be an amazing fit there. And he can put a lot of points there. And Jack is a fantastic player and a fantastic person and was a huge part of our dressing room. That will be a real loss. These things are not easy. And we wouldn’t do it lightly. There aren’t many players in the league that we would give up pieces like that for.

“But when you have a chance to acquire a player like Mikko, you have to be willing to stretch yourself.”

In Hall, the hope is the fresh start will fuel a better version of what we saw this year in Chicago, where he ended up in the fourth row.

“He’s a skilled offensive lineman who brings size and speed and I think he can play the way we want players to play,” Tolski said. “And we wanted to add an offensive punch to our lineup, and we believe he can do that.”

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So, still six weeks to go before March 7th. What else is up Tulski’s sleeve?

“There’s always room to keep improving,” he said. “While we don’t have the top 20 players in the league all in one team, there’s always somewhere we can upgrade. So we try to be one of the most active teams in the league and never miss an opportunity to improve the team.

“I welcomed Miko and Taylor to the team today and then got back on the phone looking for what else we can do,” he added with a laugh.

Because why not?

“That being said, it was a significant step forward for us, and every time you take a step forward, it gets a little harder to find the next step,” he said. “Because it’s hard to get the 20 best players in the league on one team (laughs again). So, I don’t know for sure if we’ll find anything more, but we’ll keep looking. We always want to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity. “

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(Photo: David Lipnowski/Getty Images)