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 blockbuster trade, the Hurricanes are the favorites to come out of the East with a 12.7 percent chance of winning the Cup.

The Carolina Hurricanes pulled off the first major blockbuster of the 2024-25 NHL trade deadline when they acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall on Friday night as part of a massive three-team trade with the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks. The Hurricanes are getting Rantanen from the Avalanche and Hall from the Blackhawks.