If you want to tell NHL fans that star forward Mikko Rantanen will be on the championship side of the handshake line after the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, most people will assume that the Colorado Avalanche will date one of the first two seeds in the second round central division.

But that wasn't the case after Colorado traded Lantanan to the Carolina Hurricane in January, which then turned him to the Dallas Star in early March for the NHL trade deadline.

Four months after the only NHL team he knew was abandoned, Rantanen continued to chase his second Stanley Cup, while the Avalanche will get up early in the offseason.

To pour salt into Colorado’s wound, Lantanan won the third cycle of hat-trick in Saturday’s seventh win to win his new team, which gave him an eight-year, $96 million contract extension, and the avalanche reportedly reluctant to pay him.

After Dallas won, both teams joined in the handshake to congratulate and welcome each other, and Lantaning said goodbye to his former team last time.

Fans flocked to social media to watch the sting of watching the former offensive star move forward as the 28-year-old shared an emotional hug with Avalanche Captain and close friend Gabriel Landeskog.

2025 playoffs game 7, 7th handshake 🤝 pic.twitter.com/3fmixogjz7

- b/r Open Ice (@br_openice) May 4, 2025

"It's so good, but wow, it's painful."

"A lifetime brother, but a huge mistake that @Avalanche let him go... Kama ended up on Dallas in Dallas, beating them with 8 points in the last 2 games, while the hat trick in Game 7 third-stage stage three fell from 2-0 to beat his old team," another fan pointed out.

A third fan noted: "Imagine that the AVS cores have to be angry, no matter what the outcome is tonight, they have to be angry, and obviously they are still very close."

One user commented: "Brothers have the largest vengeance game and series in NHL history."

"Maybe I cried a Lil...who knows..." said another.

Rantanen scored five goals and 12 points in seven games with his former team, while Landeskog recovered three games in three years of layoffs, scoring five points and five points in five games, while simultaneously with multiple knee injuries.

Related: Mikko Rantanen creates NHL history in Stars 7 beating Avalanche

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