Step Away from MacKinnon
There is no way Sakic is trading Nathan MacKinnon. You’d have to pry our star center out of Sakic’s cold, dead hands. Joe would probably trade one of his own kids before he’d trade Nate.
The future of the Colorado Avalanche rests on the 23-year-old’s shoulders. He is our franchise player. Sakic and company are doing everything to build their team around Nate.
I’d say there’s one other player who’s earned the title of untouchable — Mikko Rantanen. Boy, I don’t think any of us really anticipated how great a player Rantanen would turn out to be.
The 22-year-old All Star — that’s right, All Star — recorded 84 points (29 goals, 55 assists) last season. 50 games into this season, he’s just 10 points shy of that mark. What? At the 50-game mark, Rantanen has 74 points (23 goals, 51 assists.) That puts him on pace for 121 points.
Whaaaaaaaat?!
Yeah, realistically, I imagine Rantanen will top out at 100 points. However, that still makes him an extremely valuable player, especially since the big Finn is only 22. No way Sakic trades him even for a huge return.
Note: Though he’s not in the Avalanche system yet, I daresay Cale Makar is in this league, too. He’s the future future of Colorado.
So, hopefully making a big trade isn’t in the Colorado Avalanche’s future because that would probably signal an admittance by Joe Sakic that we’re not making the playoffs and need to retool again. The caveat to that is Tyson Barrie — I really do think Sakic might shop him for a king’s ransom.
A little AHL-level trade? Yeah, I bet Joe pulls the trigger on one of those last minute.