NEW YORK -- After 11 seasons as one of the NHL's leading scorers, Mikko Rantanen has become accustomed to fame.
But infamy? Not so much, although he has experienced plenty of that this season.
Rantanen recently served the first suspension of his NHL career, having earned an automatic one-game ban for two game misconducts for physical infractions.
NHL rules state that players must go 41 games between ejections to avoid suspension. Rantanen's second ejection, for boarding Calgary Flames forward Matt Coronato, came four days after his first ejection on a play that earned Rantanen widespread derision from fans -- and one very angry coach.
On Nov. 18, Rantanen skated through a check by New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield and shoved defenseman Alexander Romanov in the back, sending him violently into the end boards. As a result of that play, Romanov had shoulder surgery that will put him on the shelf for five months at a minimum.
Rantanen didn't have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for either of these misconducts, but he heard plenty from Islanders coach Patrick Roy after the Romanov hit. It was a scene that instantly went viral: Rantanen leaving the ice after his major penalty and a red-faced Roy screaming at him from the New York bench.
"Usually if something happens, if somebody gets pissed off, the media picks it up," Rantanen told ESPN on Tuesday. "So I'm not really surprised it got so big."
Roy, who called the hit "disrespectful," yelled at Rantanen, appearing to say, "You're not going to f---ing finish that game" in reference to the teams' rematch scheduled for March 26 on Long Island.
Is Rantanen worried about what might happen in that game?
"No, no, no," he said. "I'm just going to play there, play hard, play hockey and see what comes at me. But I'm a grown man. So I can stand up for myself."
But the notoriety wasn't only on the ice for Rantanen in 2025. Earlier this year, thanks to two blockbuster trades, he became one of the NHL's most debated players.
RANTANEN WAS PLAYING for the Colorado Avalanche in a contract year. His salary demands remained high -- rumored at the time to be around $14 million annually for one of the league's most dominant scoring wingers and a player who helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland shocked the hockey world by trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes in a blockbuster deal on Jan. 24 that saw Canes leading scorer Martin Necas sent back to the Avalanche. MacFarland called it a "business decision" involving a player who "had the unrestricted free agent card" but lamented losing "a superstar human being."
However, Rantanen's time with the Hurricanes was incredibly short. Carolina hoped to convince him to sign an extension -- meeting his salary demands -- and to put roots down in Raleigh. But after 13 games, the player the Hurricanes hoped could lead them to the Stanley Cup was traded again, this time to Dallas, in a deal involving young forward Logan Stankoven.
"My sense of it was that this just didn't feel like home for him, as far as I can tell. And that's OK. He's making an eight-year commitment," Carolina GM Eric Tulsky said at the time.
It was a dizzying, at times humbling, experience for Rantanen. He wanted to remain in Colorado. He learned quickly how much was out of his control. It was no surprise that Rantanen's contract with Dallas spanned eight seasons (for $96 million total) and carried a full no-movement clause.
"You learn always from those tough moments, whether it's on the ice or wherever in life," he said. "You always learn from those moments when you're going through tough times."
The double-trade season and the new monster contract sparked questions around the NHL about whether Rantanen was in fact worth coveting. Was he a superstar away from the Avalanche? Was he a franchise-level player?
"There's been a lot written about him. There's been a lot said about him," then-Stars coach Peter DeBoer said last postseason. "There's been a lot of doubters out there, based on the situations he's been in and how it's looked at different points."
Rantanen began answering those questions in the Stanley Cup playoffs, leading the Stars back to the conference finals for the third straight season -- including a seven-game, first-round elimination of his friends from Colorado. Rantanen had 22 points in 18 playoff games, including one torrid stretch in which he had nine goals and eight assists in the span of six games.
DALLAS IS HOME NOW. Rantanen and his girlfriend, Susanna Ranta, got engaged in the offseason. No contract talk leaks. No trade chaos. To his relief, just playing the game.
"We're settled and know where we're going to be," he said. "You don't have to think about off-ice stuff as much. You can just focus on hockey. It's been more comfortable."
Rantanen's comfort has been to Dallas' benefit. Through 25 games, he has 33 points, including 10 goals. That includes 18 points on the Stars' torrid power play, which ranked second to Pittsburgh heading into Tuesday's game against the New York Rangers.
Winger Jason Robertson said having Rantanen for a full training camp was a key to that unit's success. "You really didn't have time to develop that look, that chemistry after the trade deadline last year," he said.
At 5-on-5, Rantanen has found a fit with center Wyatt Johnston, who was tied with Robertson at 16 goals to lead the Stars. Like Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche star with whom Rantanen had explosive chemistry, Johnston is a right-shot center.
"Obviously last year I had a lot of success with playing with [Roope] Hintz and [Mikael] Granlund. Those are two lefties, so it's not end of the world," Rantanen said. "But playing a lot with Nate in the past as a righty, it's more common for me to make plays and stuff. [Johnston] is a really good player. He can score goals. We find each other pretty well. Obviously, it takes some time. We haven't played that long together, so we can still get better, but it's going in a good direction."
Rantanen has played with Johnston and Dallas captain Jamie Benn recently, which is to say the Finland native is not playing with his countryman Hintz. When he was traded to the Stars last season, Rantanen joined what was colloquially known as Dallas' "Finnish Mafia," along with Hintz, defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, and Granlund, who left for Anaheim as a free agent last summer. He played on a line with Hintz and Granlund for much of the playoffs.
There are moments when the Finns flock together. Such as at the end of a recent morning skate, when they were speaking their native tongue during a Suomi-only shooting drill. But Dallas players say Rantanen also has subverted some expectations.
"Normally, most of our Finnish guys are relatively quiet and whatever. Mikko comes in here and he's this big, loud and happy guy. Just a different dynamic," Robertson said. "He fit in obviously very well, and everyone welcomed him in."
Forward Tyler Seguin knew Rantanen only as an opponent before the trade. A rather large opponent, at 6-foot-4 and around 230 pounds. Seguin said having Rantanen as a teammate offered an up-close glimpse at "how thick he is and why his nickname is what it is" referring to "Moose," Rantanen's moniker in Colorado.
"He's a big boy," Seguin said.
But Seguin also appreciates what a charismatic teammate he is, too.
"I used to know him as a skilled big forward that put up a lot of offense and points with Colorado. Getting him here as a teammate, I've learned what a good person he is. How much he can affect our locker room with his leadership," Seguin explained. "Sometimes, guys come in and won't feel comfortable talking. He does. So it's nice."
RANTANEN BRINGS SIZE, skill and personality to Dallas. He also brings a superstar quality to the franchise as "one of the elite power forwards in the game," as GM Jim Nill described him last March.
Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan, hired to replace DeBoer in the offseason, coached two other elite forwards on the Edmonton Oilers' bench as an assistant coach: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Gulutzan said that Rantanen is "certainly there" as far as comparable star quality.
"The most interesting thing that I've found coaching Mikko and then coaching Leon and Connor: The similarity is their fire. Their competitiveness. And that's what you need, right?" Gulutzan said. "They're very hard on themselves, just to be great every night. That's what I really noticed. I didn't know that as much with Mikko, but now that I've gotten to coach him, you just see that drive and that intensity."
Rantanen is trying to drive the Stars into the Stanley Cup Final after three straight conference finals losses, and push Dallas to its first Cup win since 1999. He has found the right fit with a team committed to him for the long term. But he learned a lesson the hard way during last season's chaos: Take nothing for granted.
"Last year was nothing like I've experienced before. Hopefully it never happens again," he said. "But if it does, I'm ready."