The Blackhawks could expedite their painstaking rebuilding process and be significant players in free agency this summer.

The latest round of speculation started after the Hurricanes acquired Mikko Rantanen in a blockbuster trade on Friday, fueling "baseless rumors," as labeled by The Athletic's Josh Yohe, that the Avalanche might be positioning themselves to acquire Crosby.

Earlier in the week, the Blackhawks traded Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes, and Connor Bedard is now reacting to the move.

The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-team trade.

The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly loading up with multiple key players from the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks in a massive blockbuster deal.

The Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks got together on Friday night and gave us one of the biggest blockbuster trades in

The Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Taylor Hall in a three-team deal with the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes, the team announced late Friday. The trade involves sending Hall and Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes,

The Carolina Hurricanes acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

The Chicago Blackhawks may have had Mikko Rantanen in their grasp for a few minutes before moving him onto the Carolina Hurricanes, but they could shoot for a longer stay this summer.

Here are our Mikko Rantanen trade grades for the Blackhawks, Avalanche, and Hurricanes after Friday's stunning deal.

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The trade is a stunning midseason swap of point-per-game players in their primes, an anomaly in the NHL trade market in the salary-cap era.