Report: Three-Team Blockbuster Fell Through at Trade Deadline

This year's NHL trade deadline was an absolute thrill ride, with several big-name players changing teams in the final days and hours.

However, the biggest trade may have been one that didn't happen.

According to James Mirtle of The Athletic, the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights discussed a a trade that would've sent Mikko Rantanen to Toronto and Mitch Marner to Las Vegas. However, the Hurricanes and Golden Knights reportedly didn't have the assets to get the deal over the finish line.

"According to league sources, there were also discussions around a Marner-to-Vegas transaction before the trade deadline this year, a move that would have involved the Hurricanes in a three-way deal," Mirtle wrote. "Theoretically, the Leafs would have received Mikko Rantanen while the Golden Knights got Marner and sent something to Carolina."

"It’s unclear just how far those talks went, or if Marner was asked to waive his no-movement clause to go to Vegas, but it sounds like what killed the deal was Vegas and Carolina failing to find the right assets to include to get it done — not anything on the Toronto side."

Admittedly, it doesn't sound like the deal was that close if two of the three teams involved didn't have the assets needed. Even if they did, it seems unlikely that Marner would've waived his no-movement clause, especially when his wife was seven months pregnant at the time. Previous reports also indicated that he didn't want to leave Toronto.

That said, this would've been possibly the biggest mid-season trade in recent NHL history. Rantanen and Marner are both 100-point players, so both of them changing teams in one deal would've been truly shocking. If they settled in well with the Maple Leafs and Golden Knights, respectively, they might have been able to help those teams avoid second-round eliminations as well.

Additionally, there's also the haul the Hurricanes could've received for Rantanen, whom they acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 24 but flipped to the Dallas Stars at the deadline after failing to sign him to a long-term extension. It would've been tough to match the haul they got from the Stars - which included Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks and two third-round picks - but it would've been very interesting to see.