Jury acquits Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers in assault and battery trial

A jury acquitted New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers on Friday in his assault and battery trial.

The Hurricanes appear to be loading up.

Carolina acquired star right winger Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

The deal is part of a three-team trade involving the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hurricanes will also acquire left winger Taylor Hall, the Avalanche will receive centres Martin Necas and Jack Drury, and the Blackhawks will get a third-round pick and retain 50 per cent of Rantanen’s $9.25M cap hit.

According to Friedman, at this time, there is no extension for Rantanen as part of the deal.

“I believe that Carolina wants to see if they can sign Rantanen,” said Friedman during a radio appearance on Sportsnet Tonight on Friday night. “I don’t think this is only just about trading for him as a rental, I think this is about seeing can we sign him.”

On his second trade board of this NHL season, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported on the possibility of a trade exactly like this one after it was believed Rantanen turned down an eight-year, $90 million extension from the Avalanche.

“It never got close between Rantanen and Colorado,” Kypreos said Friday night. “They did not want to spend money close to Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million AAV). Colorado now feels even after next season when they have to re-sign Necas, that he won’t come close to what they had to spend on Rantanen. They feel like they can eventually re-sign Necas for much less than Rantanen, if he can deliver like a true front-line player.”

Last season, the Hurricanes made a trade deadline move for rental scoring winger Jake Guenztel, who then left in the summer and signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a UFA. Kypreos says that at this time, Hurricanes ownership will do whatever it can to get Rantanen signed.

“The Guentzel situation last year really bothered Tom Dundon,” Kypreos said. “He doesn’t want Rantanen to be another Guentzel situation. He’s going to push hard to make Rantanen stay. No deal is done. No talk of an extension yet. But the focus in Carolina now is on turning Rantanen into a long-term acquisition.”

Rantanen had been with the Avalanche for his entire 10-year career, winning a Stanley Cup with the squad in 2022. He was drafted 10th overall by Colorado in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

The one-time All-Star has yet to miss a game this season, putting up 25 goals and 39 assists through his 49 appearances. He leads Colorado in scoring — including a team-best five game-winning goals — while ranking second in assists, second in points and fourth in total ice time.

Rantanen’s 64 points currently rank sixth in the NHL, while his goal total sits seventh. If he maintains this pace with the Hurricanes, he would be Carolina’s first player to finish in the top 10 in scoring over an 82-game season since Eric Staal in 2005-06.

Rantanen has the fourth-most points (431) in the league through the last five seasons, only behind now-former teammate Nathan MacKinnon (479), Leon Draisaitl (502) and Connor McDavid (578).

Carolina is currently 30-16-3 and sits second in the Metropolitan division with 63 points.