Mikko Rantanen shocked by Avs trade, would’ve taken big discount
Jan 27, 2025, 12:31 PM
Rumor had it that Mikko Rantanen wanted to become one of the NHL’s highest-paid players. However, after the Colorado Avalanche shipped him to Carolina, the star winger says he would’ve taken a big discount to stay in Denver.
The hockey world was stunned Friday night when the Avs traded Rantanen to the Hurricanes for Martin Necas and Jack Drury, as part of a three-team deal where Carolina also picked up former MVP Taylor Hall.
Rantanen had been one of the most productive players in the NHL over the last few seasons, tallying 100 points each of the previous two seasons and is on pace to hit that mark again. It makes sense that he wanted a big chunk of change and given Colorado already has Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, the Avalanche were in a tough position to make it all happen. But it was seemingly less challenging on the inside than all of us on the outside assumed. MacKinnon already has said he didn’t care who was the highest-paid player on the team, so the ego part didn’t factor in. And now Rantanen has told both The Athetlic and a Finish newspaper that he was willing to make concessions to stay in Colorado, where he had been playing since his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season.
“I was willing to take a significant discount from my market value. We had some chats a couple of days before and then they traded me,” Rantanen told The Athletic‘s Peter Baugh. “That’s why I didn’t expect it.”
“I don’t want to talk exact numbers, but I was willing to take a significant cut below my market value,” Rantanen said to an outlet in his home country.
All of this does seem genuine because he shared his shock with reporters on Saturday, after his debut with the ‘Canes.
Meanwhile, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland said it was a business decision.
“Look, these are tough decisions. There’s nothing done in a vacuum,” MacFarland said. “Mikko earned the right to be an unrestricted free agent and he’s five months away from that. So, you gotta make these hard decisions. The player has to make them and the club has to make them and that’s what we did.”
What the negotiations looked like is unknown, especially in the context of Mikko’s agent Rantanen agent telling the public he wanted more and more. Still, it seems the player is sore he’s no longer on the Avs and that Colorado may have made a grave mistake in letting a legend go for less than his worth.
Rantanen recorded 681 points (287 goals, 394 assists) in 619 career games with Colorado, ranking him seventh on the franchise’s all-time lists in points and assists and sixth in goals. He also had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff contests.
