It’s been my understanding that a Mikko Rantanen contract extension has been a priority for the Colorado Avalanche all summer long. That doesn’t mean it’s done or close to being done, but the organization and front office want to keep him around and get a contract completed before the winger can become a free agent.
According to Elliotte Friedman, there’s a growing optimism that the Avalanche and Rantanen will come to an agreement.
On a new episode of 32 Thoughts, which randomly dropped on Wednesday morning, Friedman gave an update on the situation.
“I did have some teams tell me that they do think there’s some optimism that Colorado and Rantanen can get something done,” he said. “You start to do your planning a year out. They’re starting to take Draisaitl off their boards because they think that’s going to get done in Edmonton, and I had some teams tell me they don’t have any reason to believe, right now, that Rantanen is going to be a hard one to get done either. We’ll see where that goes.”
The star winger for the Avalanche is heading into the final year of the 6-year, $55.5 million extension he signed back in 2019. If you remember, the deal didn’t get signed until the end of September, which means Rantanen missed a large chunk of training camp. This is obviously a different situation, but just shows that side might not be in a rush.
Rantanen is coming off back-to-back 100 point seasons, so he won’t exactly be cheap to re-sign. I can’t imagine his deal costs more on a yearly basis than what Nathan MacKinnon is making, but we’ll have to see where it comes in. If Draisaitl signs an extension before the season starts, that will likely reset the market for the top players in the league, as he could very easily become the highest paid player in the NHL.
The Avalanche do like to get things done before the season starts, but if it’s not signed by the time the season starts, that doesn’t mean it won’t get done. MacKinnon signed his big extension back in 2022 right before training camp kicked off, while Devon Toews signed his deal one game into last season. Both were entering the final years of their contracts. It’s only a distraction if you make it one.
It sounds like this information is coming from other teams around the league, which makes sense because the Avalanche don’t typically give updates publicly with negotiations like this. Chris MacFarland likes to keep those discussions private and doesn’t give us much when we ask if there’s any news.
Stay tuned to CHN for updates on this and everything else Avalanche related. Training camp is set to open in just a little over a month.