Former Stars great comments on Mikko Rantanen’s journey to Dallas from Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes

I spoke with former long-time Dallas Stars great Joe Pavelski ahead of the 2025 American Century Championship – a 90+-athlete/celebrity golf tournament that’ll be broadcast on NBC, Peacock, and the GOLF Channel on July 11-13 from Stateline, Nevada – and one of the topics we discussed was Mikko Rantanen’s journey from the Colorado Avalanche, to the Carolina Hurricanes, to the DFW, on a long-term extension, over the course of the 2024-25 NHL season.

Pavelski is happy it worked out for the Stars.

He also laid out his understanding of why Rantanen asked out of the Avalanche, tying in his personal experience to see through the 28-year-old’s eyes..

Pavelski had a less thorough understanding of what happened in Raleigh. He knew, at minimum, that Rantanen didn’t enjoy his time with the Hurricanes.

“Happy for the Stars that he ended up finding his way there, because he's a tremendous player. He's proven that over, you know, the course of his career. A big body that holds on to pucks. He’s a great piece to have, you know, playing against him more than anything, and hearing about him a little bit. It was pretty nice for the Stars to pick him up,” Pavelski told me.

“The whole Carolina thing, I don't fully understand, obviously, as the players that are here. You have a right to go and do what you want and where you believe you're going to enjoy playing. And for whatever reason, that didn't happen there.

“But I don't know what happened exactly in Colorado. It felt like a lack of communication, whether the agent was involved, the team’s involved, where they're going. I do know we've played Colorado a number of years, and they were always worried about their depth. You know, and that's where I think we got to them a little bit at times in the playoffs. The depth of our team was able to push us over the top against them.

“It definitely shook up the hockey world there for a little bit. And, you know, it's crazy to think that he's on the Stars right now after the playoffs that we've had against Colorado.”

Dallas made a valiant run to the Western Conference finals in 2025. Perhaps the 2022 Stanley Cup champion will be part of a deeper run with the Stars next year.

Either way, Pavelski feels the juice was worth the squeeze, even with how things went with the Hurricanes.