Matt Duchene welcomes Mikko Rantanen to Dallas Stars with two-word message after massive $96M trade

Veteran Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene posted a special message on Instagram welcoming Mikko Rantanen to the franchise. Rantanen joined the Stars on Friday, minutes before the trade deadline closed. He also reportedly texted Duchene, who was his teammate from 2015 to 2018, about the move on the same day.

Duchene reshared a post from the Stars' official Instagram account on Friday.

“My mannnn!” Duchene wrote.

(Credit: IG/@matt9duchene)

The original post featured a carousel of photos showing Rantanen practicing with other Dallas players.

“The Moose is loose,” the Stars captioned.

Rantanen signed an eight-year $96-million deal with the Stars after joining them from the Carolina Hurricanes. The move was Rantanen’s second in six weeks.

On Jan. 24, the Colorado Avalanche traded Rantanen to the Hurricanes after failing to agree on terms to renew his contract, which was expiring at the end of this season.

Rantanen had scored 25 goals and 64 points in 49 games with the Avalanche this season, while Duchene has 25 goals and 39 assists for 64 points in 63 games for Dallas.

Rantanen never looked settled with the Canes, managing to score only two goals and six points in 13 games. He also refused to sign a long-term deal, reportedly worth more than $100 million.

Despite reported interest from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and another bank-breaking offer from the Edmonton Oilers, Rantanen ended up in Dallas. The Leafs' offer was rejected because the Canes didn’t want to strengthen a rival franchise in the same conference. There were also rumors that Toronto refused to swap Matthew Knies for Rantanen.

The Oilers and the Canes also couldn’t agree on which trade assets to move.

Mikko Rantanen opens up about moving to the Dallas Stars

In an interview on TSN’s "TradeCentre" on Friday, Mikko Rantanen shared his reasons for moving to the Dallas Stars and signing a new long-term deal with them.

“Carolina is a very good team, and I enjoyed my time there. I had some friends there that I knew from before,” Rantanen said, via NHL.com “It wasn’t an easy decision, and obviously I’ve been talking to many players around the league, and it helps that there are a lot of Finns on this team (Dallas), and I knew them well.”

Rantanen scored a goal and provided an assist during his debut game for the Stars on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars lost 5-4.