Everybody in the NHL is still getting used to seeing Mikko Rantanen in a different sweater other than the Colorado Avalanche‘s. Just days after being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Finn voiced a blunt admission about the contract extension talks with his former team, taking a shot at the front office in Denver.
The news came as a shock to every team in the league. The three-team move involving Colorado, Carolina, and Chicago changed the way every team is now looking going ahead into the end of the season.
Rantanen was as surprised as everybody to find out his stay in Mile High was coming to an end after being selected by the franchise with the second overall selection in the 2015 NHL entry Draft.
As Rantanen spoke with the media for the first time since arriving in Raleigh, the former Avalanche icon dropped a harsh statement, taking a shot at his ex-club’s organization.
“I was willing to take a significant discount from my market value. We had some chats a couple days before and then they traded me,” Rantanen admitted, via The Athletic writer Peter Baugh. “That’s why I didn’t expect it.”
They said, he said
While Rantanen stated he was open to taking a paycut in order for the team to extend his contract, while complying with the salary cap, the team believed his asking price was not affordable.
According to insider Elliotte Friedman, the Avalanche were willing to make Rantanen the highest paid winger in the NHL, surpassing Artemi Panarin, but were not willing to pay him more than Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon makes an annual average of $12.6million after signing his eight-year extension in 2022.
“It’s just tough. You don’t want to get in someone’s business,” MacKinnon told reporters. “I remember when (Landeskog) didn’t sign, it went to like the last hour, so I just assumed it would be kind of the same thing. I never thought in a million years he’d leave, so yeah, it just sucks.”
Tough loss
The Avalanche will embark on a new journey into unexplored territory as a key member of their core has left town. The players in the locker room were visibly affected by the trade, although it’s time to move on and continue stacking wins together as the Avs’ spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is not guaranteed.
“It’s pretty crazy someone like that getting traded right now,” Nathan MacKinnon said, via The Denver Gazette. “He’s a big, big part of our team, our culture. He’s been here from the dog days in 2016-17 all the way up to now and helped grow these organization into a Stanley Cup winner. That’s just one part of it.“