Rantanen-CAR

The Carolina Hurricanes' blockbuster trade to acquire Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche on Friday is still resonating and was one of the topics on this week's episode of the "NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers" podcast presented by iHeartPodcasts.

The Hurricanes got Rantanen from the Avalanche and forward Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks, who also retained half of Rantanen's $9.25 million salary. Colorado received forwards Jack Drury and Martin Necas as well as draft picks from the Hurricanes.

"Rantanen is such a great player, I would spend anything to get him on my team," Demers said of the forward, who won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022 and has had two seasons with 100 points or more (105 points in 2022-23 and 104 last season).

"Just a huge man, big ol' Finn that can skate, shoot, get to the net. It's hard to find those guys."

The cohosts also welcomed Chicago Cubs outfield Ian Happ, who talked about coffee, Eddie Vedder, former manager Joe Maddon, with whom the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, and meeting some of the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on Dec. 31.

"They only came in for a couple of days, the actual players, so I got to talk to (Connor) Bedard in the weight room and see those guys, ask them about the experience," Happ said of Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. "They were all excited to do it and see everything, which was cool."

Other topics Virk and Demers discuss include the latest on Vancouver Canucks forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, who should replace Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on Canada's roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, and Chris Pronger's place among the NHL's all-time greatest defensemen.

"Chris Pronger in his time and his era, it was hard to find a defenseman that was that mean, who could move the puck well, could provide some offense if need be. He was a very, very good defenseman," Demers said.

"I'm so biased because I love Scott Niedermayer and Nicklas Lidstrom is the gold standard. Nobody played the game more effortlessly than him in that era. But it's hard not to put (Pronger) up high."

The "NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers" podcast presented by iHeartPodcasts is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.

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