Colorado Avalanche: Is Mikko Rantanen Returning?

Colorado Avalanche forward prospect Mikko Rantanen is unlikely to get called up to the NHL unless there’s a top-6 injury.

Colorado Avalanche forward prospect Mikko Rantanen has been tearing it up in the AHL.

The Colorado Avalanche selected Rantanen with their #10 selection in the 2015 NHL Draft. He played six games with Colorado before being reassigned to the San Antonio Rampage.

At the time, the move was taken askance by many Colorado Avalanche fans. However, he was reassigned in October when the team was playing so horribly. Head coach Patrick Roy needed to rely on his best players and the vets to pull the Avs out of their slump. Rantanen could have easily gotten lost in the shuffle.

However, Colorado has an excellent system in place for developing young talent. The AHL team works in close conjunction with the NHL team to ensure they’re implementing the same on-ice systems. Therefore, when players get the call up, the transition goes more smoothly.

Moreover, the Avalanche likes to see its prospects get a lot of experience. If they’re not going to get that with the NHL club, the team prefers they get that with the AHL club rather than languish on a lower line or sit the bench.

Mikko Rantanen’s AHL Success

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As I said, Mikko Rantanen has been killing it at the AHL level. He’s played in 27 games for San Antonio and earned 32 points — that’s better than a point a game, obviously. His shooting percentage is 22.8%. Yeah.

Avalanche GM Joe Sakic released Rantanen to play for Team Finland at the IIHF World Junior Championship in January. He captained the team to a gold medal, earning two goals and three assists in seven games.

Here’s one of those two goals:

While Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene was kicking it up at the NHL All Star Weekend in Nashville, Mikko Rantanen was representing at the AHL All-Star Classic in Syracuse, New York.

Here’s Rantanen in the puck control relay:

Silky hands, eh?

Rantanen also scored a goal during the All Star tournament, which followed a similar format to the NHL version.

This is all very impressive, but does that mean Avs fans are going to be seeing Ranty with the big club any time soon?

Probability of Rantanen Getting the Call Up

At this point, don’t hold your breath for seeing Mikko Rantanen wearing Colorado Avalanche colors again this season. And that’s a good thing.

During a post-practice presser, head coach Patrick Roy said that he’s happy with the four lines he has for Colorado. He especially mentioned the Soderberg and Mitchell lines — the latter being affectionately known as the Gladiator Line. Here are those two lines:

Gabriel Landeskog–Carl Soderberg–Blake Comeau

Cody McLeod–John Mitchell–Jack Skille

The other top line has a variable player skating with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon. At times it’s been Alex Tanguay, Andreas Martinesen or Jarome Iginla — right now Roy says it will be Iginla.

The third line is a hodge podge, with players entering or exiting the lineup via that line. (We can call it the Revolving Door Line.) Mikhail Grigorenko and Chris Wagner spend a lot of time on the Revolving Door Line.

While Mikko Rantanen might make his own entrance via the Revolving Door Line, that’s not where coach Roy would want to see him. During the same presser Roy said:

"“If we’re just going to bring [Rantanen] up to play on the fourth line or not play a lot of minutes, then it’s clear as an organization we’re going to leave him [in San Antoinio] and play a lot of minutes in the minors.”"

That’s part of the Colorado Avalanche’s development program — letting these types of players gain confidence and experience from a lot of playing time. Leave lines three and four to bottom-six forwards.

So, unless a spot opens up on the top two lines because of injury — and that’s why I say it’s luck there isn’t one — it doesn’t look like Mikko Rantanen is returning to the NHL club this season.

Next: Did MacKinnon Get the Green Weenie?

That’s ok. Can anyone say “Rookie of the Year for 2017, Mikko Rantanen”?