It was a little more than 10 years ago that the trend began. Struggling NHL teams began to hire once-great players to run their hockey operations. Joe Sakic got the nod in Colorado in 2013. Brendan Shanahan took over the Maple Leafs about a year later.
And given how both are Hall of Famers who won multiple Stanley Cups as players, and both played important roles in the blood feud between the , it鈥檚 been fair enough to compare their progress ever since.
So far, it鈥檚 not particularly close. Sakic, the better player, has also been the more successful executive, with as many Cups as Shanahan has playoff series wins.
It鈥檒l depend on your perspective as to whether you believe Sakic further distanced himself from Shanahan this weekend. What鈥檚 for sure is that on Friday night, Sakic鈥檚 Avalanche did something Shanahan鈥檚 Leafs have been famously unwilling to do. They looked a homegrown superstar in the eyes, calculated that they couldn鈥檛 afford his contract-year demands and traded him to avoid alternatives they consider untenable.
In shipping Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal that sent Carolina鈥檚 Martin Necas and Jack Drury back Colorado鈥檚 way聽鈥 this while the lost-at-sea Chicago Blackhawks helpfully sent Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes while retaining half of Rantanen鈥檚 cap hit of $9.25 million (U.S.) in return for a third-round draft pick聽鈥 the Avalanche made the calculation that they couldn鈥檛 build a Cup contender with Rantanen commanding market-value compensation.聽
An Anthony Stolarz sighting, Joseph Woll’s workload and Matt Murray’s return shine a spotlight on diminishing durability in the blue paint.
An Anthony Stolarz sighting, Joseph Woll’s workload and Matt Murray’s return shine a spotlight on diminishing durability in the blue paint.
鈥淥ne of the areas it鈥檚 clear, we鈥檙e not deep enough,鈥 Chris MacFarland, Sakic鈥檚 right-hand man and the Avalanche general manager, told reporters. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to be deep to go four rounds. Hopefully this is going to help that.鈥
Think about that: That鈥檚 the聽Avalanche鈥檚 position. And with Nathan MacKinnon earning $12.6 million and Cale Makar’s cap hit $9 million, they aren鈥檛 anywhere near as top-heavy as the Leafs, who have Auston Matthews at $13.25 million and William Nylander at $11.5 million. But when you reverse engineer this deal聽鈥 which Carolina GM Eric Tulsky acknowledged found its conceptual roots in the summer and heated up in the last couple of months聽鈥 it鈥檚 not difficult to imagine Sakic and MacFarland at some point looking at each other and saying: Above all else, we can鈥檛 become the Leafs.
Considering Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl recently reset the market for forwards with a $14-million cap hit beginning next season, it’s safe to guess Rantanen wanted to earn more than MacKinnon. Colorado, apparently, believed an internal celling needed to be upheld, or thereabouts.
Which brings us to Toronto, where the financial ambitions of the top players have never been crimped by Cup-centric concerns. Rantanen and Toronto’s Mitch Marner, just like Sakic and Shanahan, are on similar career trajectories. Marner, like Rantanen, is an impending unrestricted free-agent winger on a team that appears to lack Cup-worthy depth. The Avalanche, at least, have a relatively recent Cup.
The comparison between Rantanen and Marner, mind you, isn鈥檛 apples to apples. Marner makes more money at present, $10.9 million on the cap.
And here鈥檚 the thing about Rantanen: He鈥檚 a playoff stud. He ranks eighth all-time in playoff points per game at 1.25, right between Mark Messier and Bobby Orr. The only active players higher on that list are Connor McDavid, Draisaitl and MacKinnon. Marner ranks 79th at 0.877 points a game.
There鈥檚 the other difference: Rantanen had a nine-team no-trade list, which gave the Avalanche latitude. Marner鈥檚 possession of full trade protection means he鈥檚 in charge of his destination, and also capable of nixing any proposed trade at the eleventh hour. So it’s not like the Leafs have as many options as the Avalanche. And it’s not like anyone would suggest such deals are easy.
MacKinnon claimed to be blindsided by the move: 鈥淚 never thought in a million years (Rantanen) would leave. It just sucks.鈥澛犅
And if you watched Saturday鈥檚 media availability with MacFarland, you saw an executive who looked gutted by the grim realities of a difficult business.
For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes are taking a significant swing to bolster a perennial playoff team.
For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes are taking a significant swing to bolster a perennial playoff team.
鈥淚t hurts, right. (Rantanen is) a homegrown talent. He鈥檚 a superstar person. He鈥檚 a superstar human being. That鈥檚 sports, right?鈥 MacFarland said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to talk about it. People are going to talk about it. Your heartstrings get tugged, and that鈥檚 why we all do this 鈥 (But) he had the (unrestricted free agent) card and we felt like this is what we had to do.鈥
In other words, the Avalanche knew they couldn’t win the trade, but they also knew they couldn’t win another Cup if they didn鈥檛 make it. As the clock ticks on Marner鈥檚 contract year, the Cup-starved Leafs leave it up Shanahan to figure out what it all means.聽
Sakic, if he has one-upped Shanahan in life in a business suit, is also the easiest explanation for why Shanahan stays employed in 海角社区官网only a few months short of marking 11 frustratingly fruitless years on the job. The reason is simple. In the lead-up to Colorado鈥檚 Stanley Cup win in 2022, the Avalanche, like today鈥檚 Leafs, had never enjoyed a particularly deep playoff run. They lost in the first round in 2018. They lost in the second round in three straight years after that. They鈥檝e only won one playoff series since they won the Cup. And in the champagne-soaked glow of their ultimate triumph, more than one Avalanche player praised ownership and management for 鈥渁llowing the group to grow.鈥
That鈥檚 still the state-media narrative in Leafland in season nine of the Matthews-Marner project: Give us more time and we鈥檒l eventually get it right. Trust us. The Rantanen trade suggests that truly successful franchises are constantly reconsidering the parameters of the crux of 鈥渦s,鈥 even if such partings are painful.
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