TVA Reports Avalanche Will Trade Rantanen, Proposes Rangers Deal

Mikko Rantanen hasn’t yet signed a contract extension and an NHL reporter for TVA Sports, Renaud Lavoie, believes the Avalanche will trade the superstar winger if they’re unable to agree to terms before the trade deadline.

My thoughts

I don’t buy it. The Avalanche have time and are using it. I don’t think keeping Rantanen past the trade deadline without a new deal is going to scare them. The actual deadline is July 1.

It’s not unusual for teams to take their star players to the wire before locking up an extension. The rarities are when it leads to, for example, someone like Alex Pietrangelo walking to free agency. But that’s not the norm.

In 2021, the Avs signed their captain and heartbeat of the team Gabriel Landeskog just minutes before the deadline for him to be eligible for an eight-year extension. Landeskog wanted to stay. He made that clear before, and he doubled down on it after signing the extension. The thoughts of him leaving were never actually a reality.

I believe that’s where Rantanen is. Do I have any insider information about this? No. But I have spoken to Rantanen and he loves it here. Landeskog didn’t have a Stanley Cup when he signed — Rantanen does. He knows this team has what it takes and he knows it’s something special.

He’s not going to throw that all away for an extra $1 million per season over eight years, or whatever the differences are right now. And the Avs aren’t going to either. They’ll find a middle ground, they’ll re-up, and Rantanen will continue to put up around 100 points per season playing with Nathan MacKinnon.

He deserves to get paid and he will.