Good morning, here is everything I know right now about the Dallas Stars and Mikko Rantanen right now

It's 5ish in the morning, here is what I know now.

Good morning.

It’s roughly 5 am ET at the time of this writing, or 4 am CT, I’m only awake because apparently the dog has better reporting instincts than I do and this was one of the few mornings I allowed myself to check my phone before going back to bed.

Let’s cut to the chase, here’s everything I know, right now, about the Dallas Stars and a potential deal to land Mikko Rantanen.

• Reports surfaced in the middle of the night that the Stars and Hurricanes have the framework of a deal in place for Rantanen, but it’s only happening if the Stars and Rantanen can work out an extension before the 3 pm ET (2 pm CT) NHL trade deadline.

• Rantanen is represented by Andy Scott at Octagon. Scott also happens to represent both Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley. Scott and Stars GM Jim Nill negotiated the extension for Harley, a bridge deal, before this season and have recently been talking a potential extension for Johnston.

• At this point, I have no idea what the return is on a potential deal. Again, this is just an honest list of things I actually know at 5 am.

• The Stars have been publicly and privately pretty open about their views of the trade deadline. Nill was never going to be a big-game hunter for rentals or aging assets with huge deals, like Erik Karlsson. But, Rantanen, if extended is a completely different animal. A 28-year-old, legitimate superstar, they could sign to an eight-year extension changes the equation.

• It also changes the equation for Nill and how he views his assets. He’s told me and others in the past that his young forwards, Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque weren’t available. But when it comes to potentially adding Rantanen, things change, so if this deal comes through, the Stars will give something they weren’t willing to give before, and that could mean one of those forwards or another asset Nill otherwise never would have considered.

• From a Carolina perspective, I’m not nearly as plugged in as Dallas. But from my past conversations and understandings of how Carolina has looked at things, there is a very pragmatic view for the organization that if there truly was no chance or Rantanen extending in Raleigh, it would be best to flip assets.

• Rantanen is Finnish, duh. He has a friendship with some of the Stars Finns and he spent his first year in North America playing for the San Antonio Rampage during the 2015-16 season. Friends and familiarity certainly won’t hurt the Stars in this case, but at the end of the day, money and term matter most when it comes to contracts.

OK, that’s all I know right now.

I’m going to make a cup of coffee and clean the kitchen while I wait for the kids to wake up. My dog, the true hero here, has already gone back to bed.