It’ll be hard to assess the impact of the Carolina Hurricanes’ acquisition of Mikko Rantanen for months, but a goal in his Lenovo Center debut doesn’t hurt.

After the Hurricanes shocked the hockey world over the weekend, Mikko Rantanen still may elect for free agency. Would this make the trade not worth what they gave up?

The Carolina Hurricanes are one of the hottest teams in the NHL of late, winning six of their last seven games and securing 13 of a possible 14 standings points in that span.

Mikko Rantanen scored in his Hurricanes home debut as Carolina posted a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.

After a blockbuster trade late Friday, Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall made their Carolina Hurricanes debuts in the team’s overtime road loss at the New York Islanders.

Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2025 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the project and its criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and insight from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 8 to Feb. 7.

The Carolina Hurricanes will take on the New York Rangers (24-21-4) tonight in the second game of the Mikko Rantanen/Taylor Hall era. Carolina is coming off of a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday,

The Chicago Blackhawks did not play a pretty game, taking on a Carolina Hurricanes team down a player for the night. The effort was there, even when the decision-making wasn’t. Ultimately, the talent gap was too big to overcome in a hard-fought 3-2 loss in Raleigh.

Carolina Hurricanes center Jack Roslovic, who turns 28 on Jan. 29, has already gotten to play for four different squads in his NHL career, including his hometown team.

"We have star players, too, that don’t seem to be protected as well as some of the other teams’ stars," Blackhawks captain Foligno said.