It has been an eventful and stressful nearly 24 hours for the Colorado Avalanche and their fans. On Friday night, elite forward Mikko Rantanen was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury as part of a three-team deal including the Chicago Blackhawks.

Rantanen said he thought talks with the Avs had been productive before the shocking trade to the Canes: "I didn’t know we were in a rush."

The Avalanche began the process of moving on with its first win since the deal Sunday afternoon against the Rangers. Drury scored a goal. Necas was dynamic, collecting two assists and hitting both the crossbar and post with shots while playing in Rantanen’s old spot next to MacKinnon.

The Avalanche played their first game in the post-Mikko Rantanen era. How did they do? Also, Jared Bednar and Nathan MacKinnon were open and honest about their thoughts on the trade. So was another former teammate,

Three days after the blockbuster trade of Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Jack Drury and Martin Necas — it still hasn’t sunk in for fans and/or media.

The trade that saw the superstar dealt to Carolina sent shockwaves through the league and up and down the Colorado franchise.

Following a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday, the first game without Rantanen, Avs superstar Nathan MacKinnon sat down in the locker room with reporters and reminisced on his old friend and former teammate.

As much as the Colorado Avalanche would've liked to cap off this whirlwind of a road trip on a positive note, they failed to do so. The team, which looks a little different having replaced Mikko Rantanen with Martin Necas and Jack Drury,

After the trade happened, MacKinnon said he spoke to Cale Makar and Gabriel Landeskog, who is on the trip, as leaders of the team. They weren't the only players on the team shocked, as a night where a lot of the team was planning on going to bed early changed on a dime.

Mikko Rantanen is now with the Carolina Hurricanes, something he did not envision happening. He was discussing a contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche before the surprise move. He admitted he was willing to take less than his market value to stay. Via Athlon Sports, the winger said:

Jared Bednar got hired to coach the Avalanche just as the NHL entered its last best-on-best tournament in the 2016 World Cup. So in a sense, the 4 Nations Faceoff is uncharted territory for him.

When the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers get together, there’s an overflow of offensive firepower available.