It's been two weeks since the Avalanche shocked hockey by trading Mikko Rantanen.
No, that doesn't mean it's time to declare a winner in the deal or analyze it further. Better to let this one breath for a little while.
One thing we do know with near certainty is that, barring a surprise reunion, Rantanen has worn the burgundy and blue for the final time in his career. It wasn't the storybook ending Avalanche fans envisioned, but it shouldn't overshadow the fact that Rantanen was an elite player for the franchise for nearly a decade — the type of player who doesn't come along often.
Hopefully that doesn't get lost because his stay here ended with a contract dispute.
"He was awesome. Awesome," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio of Rantanen, whom he coached for nearly a decade. "Just a phenomenal teammate, competitor, great guy. His skill speaks for itself and what he was able to do with our team. Stanley Cup champion. That was a tough day to see him go."
"We're going to miss Mikko, as a person (and) as a player."
Hindsight says Rantanen was the obvious pick for the Avalanche at 10th overall in 2015, but that wasn't the case at the time. As an 18-year-old, he skyrocketed up the rankings during the second half of his draft year. That didn't make him the sure-fire selection at 10, though.
The Avalanche had not drafted a player playing in Europe with their first pick for well over a decade, focusing instead on North Americans. Canadian forwards Lawson Crouse and Mathew Barzal were ranked higher than Rantanen by many scouts and were still available when the Avalanche were up to pick. Both have become good players in the NHL, but they haven't become elite.
The five players selected directly after Rantanen have combined for 639 points in the NHL. Rantanen himself has 683. The Avalanche got that one right, and it changed the trajectory of the franchise for the next decade.
After dominating for a year in the AHL as a teenager, Rantanen joined the NHL full-time during the Avalanche's disastrous 2016-17 season. Like a handful of players that were on that team and went on to hoist the Cup a few seasons later, he took his bumps and came out the other side better for it.
"He's been here from the dog days of '16-17 all the way up to now and has helped grow this organization into a Stanley Cup winner and being a contender every season," Nathan MacKinnon said after the trade happened.
"A big reason why is because of him."
After that rookie season, Rantanen never looked back and neither has the franchise. In the eight years since, he produced 1.18 points-per-game in an Avalanche uniform during the regular season. He sits sixth all-time in franchise history in goals and seventh in points. Looking at the names behind him, it'll be a while before anyone catches him. His 55-goal campaign in 2022-23 ranks as the greatest goal-scoring season for anyone in an Avalanche sweater.
But where Rantanen really separated himself and why he should considered one of the greatest to wear an Avalanche sweater is his postseason production. Producing in the regular season is one thing; doing it in the playoffs is when you make a name for yourself.
Rantanen's 101 points in 81 playoff games give him an average of 1.24 points-per-game. That ranks him eighth all-time in NHL history.
You read that correctly — NHL history, not franchise history. His career postseason production ranks higher than all-time greats like Bobby Orr, Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, and, yes, Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic.
The 28-year-old Finn, despite still having great production, isn't having his best season. There have been nights over the last decade where you'd watch and say, "Mikko looks a little off."
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At the end of a few of those nights you'd look down at the scoresheet and see he finished with three points. That's the sign of a special talent.
Does he belong at the same level as the likes of Sakic, Forsberg, MacKinnon and Patrick Roy? Not quite, but he was a special Avalanche player who played a significant role in bringing another championship to the state of Colorado.
And when it's all said and done, when all the emotions from a complicated end here have passed, the number "96" should hang in the rafters at Ball Arena.
What I'm hearing
—It's been nice to not focus so much on goaltending issues the last two months. The players were sick of talking about it as well.
"Every game that we've not played at our best, (Mackenzie Blackwood has) given us a chance to stay in it," Jonathan Drouin said last week. "It's nice to have him back there. He gives us a lot of confidence."
—Colorado is really lacking net-front players right now, and it's painfully obvious watching the games. With Valeri Nichushkin out of the lineup and Rantanen no longer here, Artturi Lehkonen is the only guy going to the net with any consistency.
"It's too perimeter. It's too light," Bednar told Altitude Radio of the offensive attack of his team. "We have to fix it. We need a better intent to go to the net and create traffic at the net and make sure we're putting pucks to the net and stop thinking about this perimeter game, because it's not working."
What I'm seeing
—Yes, Josh Manson missed the entire third period of Tuesday's game against the Canucks, but Devon Toews and Cale Makar combining to play almost 64 minutes in the game seems like Jared Bednar signaling to his front office he really needs another defenseman he can trust.
—Casey Mittelstadt's offensive slump has been well documented, but he's not the only forward making a decent chunk of change that has gone cold.
Ross Colton's red-hot start to the season seems like a distant memory. Going into Thursday's game against the Flames, Colton had registered zero points in his last 10 contests and has only one goal in 16 games. The 28-year-old has only three assists in 38 games.
What I'm thinking
—Does anyone truly care about the 4 Nations Face-Off? We're less than a week away from the tournament and there seems to be little buzz around it with hockey fans. It'll be cool to see some of these players represent their country in a best-on-best tournament, but everything about this tournament seems a tad phony. I'll be interested, but it isn't must-watch TV for me.
The Olympics next year? That's another story entirely. Bring on the Olympics.
—The Avalanche have been wildly inconsistent. But after losing the first four games of the season, they've avoided extended slumps. The Vegas Golden Knights have lost 11 of their last 14 games and have dropped to second in the Pacific Division. If the playoffs started today, the Avalanche would take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
