Colorado Avalanche: Best Tweets about Mikko Rantanen

Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen showcased his personality last season — and it came through in tweets about the big Finn.

How did Colorado Avalanche fans — or any hockey fan — enjoy the game before the inception of social media? Ok, I well remember the days of short features shown during intermission. If you missed them, they were gone forever — I lament not being able to find the video of Rene Corbet, Eric Lacroix and Stephane Yelle becoming teammates.

With social media, though, you get to know the players so much better. You get a real feel for their personalities. Well, believe it or not, one seemingly quiet Finn in fact has a huge personality.

Mikko Rantanen was the Colorado Avalanche’s #10 selection in the 2015 NHL Draft. It’s rumored that the team almost considered trading up to ensure they’d secure him — he was ranked first among European skaters. Prior to the draft, he’d already spent two years playing in the Finnish men’s league as a teenager.

Rantanen had an incredible sophomore season in the 2017-18 season, recording 29 goals and 55 assists for 84 points. However, he also started to showcase more of his goofy personality — and the Avs social media team captured it.

For example, for two years now we’ve watched Rantanen sprawl across the ice even though he’s a strong skater. Indeed, his go-to goal-scoring move is from his knee. Here’s an example of his putting both together:

Here’s Rantanen pulling off his signature move in a game, complete with falling down:

It’s to the point that I’ve started calling him a baby giraffe.

Likewise, we discovered that Mikko is unable to tie his own tie. When his mother was visiting, she prepared a selection of ties, which he stores on the top shelf of his closet:

On a fashion note, I’m going to guess that polka-dot shirt with the geometric negative space is a European import.

Anyway, sometimes you’ve got to tie a tie from scratch. Luckily captain Gabriel Landeskog was around to help out at the annual Charity Brunch:

Although it looks like Mikko is balking and doesn’t actually get the tie secured in this video short. Later, though, he had his rather bright tie well-secured, so the tying magic happened at some point:

Side note: What’s with the scowl, J.T.?

The shirt resurfaces:

But the socks have gone missing:

When it got cold, the socks returned:

Moving on from fashion, I don’t know what Rantanen’s game face is like, if he can stare opponents down. However, Rantanen seems unable to keep his tongue in his mouth:

He’s also been known to make some really funny faces:

That said, Mikko Rantanen brings on the smiles:

Even better, he’s fantastic at creating smiles among fans:

And also to yuk it up with teammates:

Just to make a point, some of those 29 goals were beautiful ones — and it was fun to watch him come into his own:

An 84-point season is one of heck of an anti-sophomore slump. Hopefully the Colorado Avalanche winger can keep up the magic next year in his third NHL season. As least we know Mikko Rantanen will bring out the outsized personality.