So close, yet so far. This was the story of the Edmonton Oilers in 2023-24 season as they lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers and fell short.

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

The Carolina Hurricanes traded for Mikko Rantanen on Friday night in a stunning move. It was a three-team trade between the Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks. Carolina also acquired Taylor Hall in this deal on Friday night.

On Friday night the hockey world came to a grinding halt, and not because of anything going on during an unusually robust four-game slate of games. The

How does a team replace Connor McDavid in their lineup? That’s an easy question — They don’t. With the team’s captain serving the first game of a three-game suspension for cross-checking, Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said it’ll take a community approach to handle playing without McDavid.

Rantanen is one of the NHL’s top playoff performers; he ranks fourth among active players in career playoff points per game (1.25) behind Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (1.58), Leon Draisaitl (1.46) and his now former teammate MacKinnon (1.30) and helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022.

The NHL has given both Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers suspensions for their cross-checks in a recent Vancouver Canucks-Edmonton Oilers game.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Ryan McLeod scored two goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes ... goal early in the third period, Connor McDavid had two goals and an assist, and Edmonton ...

Martinook said that in addition to Brind'Amour being, "an unbelievable motivator," the former Hurricanes captain and center is in good enough condition nearly 15 years after he retired from playing to, "get a couple fourth-line shifts in there."

The Edmonton Oilers will play the next three games without superstar captain Connor McDavid after the NHL suspended him for cross-checking Vancouver Canucks winger Conor Garland on Saturday.

McDavid received the supplemental discipline after cross-checking Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland late in Saturday's game

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby offered his perspective on Connor McDavid’s three-game suspension for cross-checking Conor Garland during Saturday’s Edmonton-Vancouver clash. Speaking to The Athletic on Monday, Crosby acknowledged McDavid’s actions but framed them within the physical nature of hockey.