The standout player for the Colorado Avalanche, Mikko Rantanen, is about to enter the sixth and final year of his deal with the team. With any luck, he will soon be obligated to a lengthy extension of his contract. According to Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports, a new contract for Rantanen is getting closer and closer. During a recent Zoom call with the media, General Manager Chris MacFarland of the Avalanche declined to comment on extension talks. However, it is not unusual for executives to show a lack of willingness to engage in situations like these.
Before the 2019 season began, Rantanen agreed to terms with the Avalanche that included a six-year contract worth $55 million. Unbelievably, that expiration date is drawing near, and it is now time to sign a new contract. As a result of the fact that Rantanen is scheduled to earn $9.25 million during the 2024-25 season, the general consensus is that his subsequent contract will be worth more than $10 million per year.
According to Montano, it may last for seven or eight years, which would guarantee that Rantanen would continue to spend the most of his career in Colorado. At the moment, he is 27 years old, and in October, he will turn 28 years old.
In addition to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, Rantanen is an essential component of the core organization of the Avalanche. There is a strong possibility that Gabriel Landeskog, the team’s captain, and Valeri Nichushkin, the forward, will be a part of that squad for the upcoming season; yet, they are both battling to return for very different reasons.
Rantanen has proven to be a reliable player for the Avalanche, in addition to being quite productive. He has been selected for two All-Star games and has scored more than one hundred points in each of the past two seasons. He has played with Colorado for eight complete seasons, during which time he has scored 262 goals and added 355 assists. He is consistently one of the players in the league who has the highest level of productivity.
As the wage cap in the National Hockey League is anticipated to continue to rise over the next few years, it is a no-brainer for the general manager of the Avalanche, Chris MacFarland, to keep Rantanen on the team. The money, however, needs to make sense.
The fact that Mikko Rantanen is “close” to receiving an extension is a signal of optimism; all that remains is for it to be completed. And we can only hope that the news will be released at some time in the weeks to come.
