Colorado Avalanche: Mikko Rantanen has Arrived

Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen is showing he’s the real deal with the numbers he’s putting up — again — this season.

The Colorado Avalanche have the top line in hockey right now. Indeed, a couple days ago, Sportsnet Stats released a tweet pointing out that the Avs’ top line had 63 points — which was the same number of points the entire LA Kings roster had accumulated.

And right wing Mikko Rantanen is a big part of their success. Indeed, Rantanen leads the team with 24 points (5 goals, 19 assists). His linemates, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, lead the team in goals with 11 each.

Last season, Rantanen quietly accumulated 84 points (29 goals, 55 assists). As that shows, he came thisclose to scoring 30 goals in his sophomore season. And I say quietly because, for a sophomore earning that many points, he garnered little national buzz.

Well, that has changed. Mikko Rantanen has arrived. (I swear I titled this post before I saw this tweet  — great minds think alike):

As you see, Mikko was named the NHL’s first star for the month of November. He earned that honor by recording 5 goals and 16 assists, for 21 points, in the first month of the 2018-19 season.

Here are Rantanen’s numbers:

Here is the official NHL announcement:

Just prior to that announcement, Rantanen had been named the NHL’s third star of the week. The news came as a sort of birthday present as it was announced on October 29, the day our (now) star winger turned 22. In the week ending on October 28, Rantanen registered 3 goals and 4 assists.

That was the week that saw the Colorado Avalanche play four games, winning one on the road and one at home.

Prior to the Calgary Flames game, we discovered that he even has his own song now:

Type in the comments section below how long it takes before you can get the song out of your head. Mi-kko Rant-a-nen, Mikko Rantanen, Mi-kko Rant-a-nen, Mikko Rantanen… 😁

The entire line is garnering buzz, which is a little awkward. Ok, it was nice when we had our secret weapons, which are not so secret anymore. However, there’s the risk that increased exposure can lean to increased distraction. Or at least increased scrutiny when the team falters like it has the last couple games.

Well, like it or not, the buzz is here. Just yesterday, the NHL released the following tweet:

I’m not a big fan of letting non-Avs fans come up with names for our top line. However, a couple of them are pretty good — Mile High Divide, Big MacK and Cheese, and The Timberline are cute. Colloquially, we generally refer to them as MGM (though I like the MGM Grand upgrade).

Anyway, Mikko was the Colorado Avalanche’s #10 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. It appears his numbers are not a fluke — he’s on pace for 140 points, which is nutso. (I imagine he could hover around the 100-point mark at season’s end, though.)

Mikko Rantanen has arrived.