Mark Kiszla: After beating Mikko Rantanen in Dallas uniform, it’s time to admit Avs are better team without him

By Mark Kiszla March 17, 2025 | updated 4 months ago

Face it, Mikko. You messed up.

The Avalanche are a better team without Mikko Rantanen, traded in a wicked piece of hockey business during the dead of winter. His painful departure, however, has allowed Colorado’s hope of winning the Stanley Cup to spring eternal.

And that’s not a hot-take opinion. It’s a results-based fact.

The Avs welcomed everyone’s favorite Moose back to Denver on Sunday afternoon, when a smattering of angry booing got swallowed by sentimental cheers during a classy tribute to Rantanen’s 10 seasons and 287 goals for Colorado played on the big video boards at Ball Arena.

When that job of rekindling those misty-colored memories was done, the Avs took care of business, beating Rantanen and his new Dallas teammates 4-3 in the uneasiness of overtime, on a clutch goal by Cale Makar.

Get used to this kind of high anxiety, because this was a sneak peak of a knock-down, drag-out fight of a first-round NHL playoff series between Colorado and Dallas.

“I think it’s inevitable,” Makar said. “We’ve got to meet.”

The Avs are stronger, hungrier, deeper and better suited to not only survive and advance against the Stars, but win the league championship, than they were on the night of Jan. 24, with a Friday night news dump so heavy it crushed the soul of Colorado hockey fans that were shocked to learn the team had traded Rantanen.

It was a hard business decision that absolutely had to be made if the Avalanche didn’t want to waste another year of superstar Nathan MacKinnon’s prime.

Wayne “Gretzky has been traded. Great, all-time players have been traded. It happens,” veteran Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson said. “Mikko’s not the first and not last NHL star player to be traded. As unfortunate as it was and as much as it stings to see him in that (Dallas) jersey, we have to move forward.”

In the 19 games since turning the Moose loose, Colorado’s record is 13-5-1. So those of you who cursed Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland at the time owe a standing ovation for him now.

“Never wanted to leave,” Rantanen said. “It wasn’t like I asked to leave.”

While there’s an element of truth to those words, and I honestly believe he’ll forever have fondness for the Avalanche in his heart, the bottom-line is Rantanen asked for more money in contract negotiations than would have been wise for Colorado to pay him.

At the time MacFarland dealt Rantanen, the Avalanche were a respectable 28-19-2. But the vibe in the locker room was all wrong. The core felt stale and the scoring depth wasn’t sufficient to win 16 playoff games and hoist the Cup.

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“We have the depth to do some damage in the playoffs,” said Johnson, who recently returned to Colorado in a trade to bolster the team’s third defensive pairing.

An Avalanche team that had no reliable goalies at the outset of this season now has two in Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood that can steal a playoff game the way Jake Oettinger has been known to do for Dallas.

While blasted for trading Rantanen, the reality is MacFarland qualifies as the NHL’s most outstanding front office executive of this year for his wheeling and dealing.

Martin Necas looks at home on the top line alongside MacKinnon. Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle provide the veteran cool at center that’s invaluable when the postseason heat is on. Ryan Lindgren and Johnson make Colorado tougher at the blue line.

Unlike the Denver Nuggets, who paid guard Jamal Murray and forward Michael Porter Jr. like stars they will never be, the Avalanche resisted the foolishness of trying to keep old championship magic in a bottle.

The Nuggets are a team whose payroll is fat at the top of the roster, while the bench is too thin to put up a respectable fight. MacFarland didn’t fall into that trap by granting Rantanen’s excessive salary demands.

While Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth stood pat and has done nothing of substance since adding guard Russell Westbrook eight long months ago to improve his squad, MacFarland boldly added pieces right until the final ticks of the clock prior to the NHL trade deadline.

What’s the result?

The Nuggets look weary coming down the stretch of the NBA regular season. They will only go as far in the playoffs as center Nikola Jokic carries them.

When Booth wastes another season of Joker’s prime, the GM will have some serious explaining to do with his his bosses, Stan and Josh Kroenke.

On the other hand, when Johnson looks around the Avs locker room, he sees talented teammates worthy of 19 minutes of ice time per game, unselfishly accepting a 15-minute role for the common good of chasing a championship.

While he’s still the best hockey player on the planet on any given night, MacKinnon won’t win the Hart Trophy in back-to-back seasons as the league’s MVP.

But thanks to the bold moves of MacFarland that revitalized the Avs, MacKinnon has a real shot at winning the Cup for a second time.

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Mark Kiszla: After beating Mikko Rantanen in Dallas uniform, it’s time to admit Avs are better team without him

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