How Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen trades set up 2025 Round 1 matchup between Colorado and Dallas

In the last fifteen years, there have been many notable players to don the burgundy and blue. Among these are two names Avs fans will recognize and remember, either fondly or forlornly: Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen. While their efforts and their successes as members of the Colorado Avalanche are indisputable, there is still much discourse surrounding their respective trades and how those trades came to shape the Avs' roster. With all trades, there are mixed-feelings and adjustments to be made, and that's certainly true in both of these instances.

Without these two trades, however, the identity of the Colorado Avalanche would be entirely different, as the players, prospects, and picks Colorado received for these two have, on two separate occassions, reshaped the direction of the team. While Duchene and Rantanen may be the enemy as Round One of the 2025 NHL Playoffs rages on, it's important to remember their respective times in the Mile High City and how their departures set in motion the aforementioned marquis matchup.

Matt Duchene

As the first wave of franchise legends skated off into retirement at the tail-end of the 2000s, the Avalanche were, for the first time since their founding at the start of the 1995-96 season, a team without an identity. Their success inevitably dipped into mediocrity in 2008-09 when the team recorded only 69 points; in their first twelve years as a club, they had never recorded less than 95 - a jarring drop-off.

While familiar names like Milan Hejduk, Wojtek Wolski, and Marek Svatos all sat firmly in their prime years, the team no longer had a show-stopping star, and their leading scorer was Hejduk, with 59 points in 82 games. There was much excitement around Paul Stastny, the son of Quebec Nordiques legend Peter Stastny (and the nephew of Peter's two brothers, Marion and Anton), but the team needed someone to come in and revitalize the franchise. After that '08-09 season, which saw them draft third overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, enter Matt Duchene.

Duchene was, at the time, the highest-drafted player ever selected by Colorado (the next-highest was Alex Tanguay at 12th overall in 1998). Duchene began his pro career the following season — 2019-10 — finishing third on the Avs with 55 points in 81 games. This earned him third in the Calder Memorial Trophy race that season, as well. He grew up cheering for the Avs, and before long, Avs fans were cheering for him. Even at just 18, he was making a name for himself as a solid two-way player with explosive skating ability and a lethal scoring touch, and for parts of nine seasons he was one of the most exciting players the Avs had ever developed. Then, one day, he wanted out, and he requested a trade from the Colorado Avalanche, the team he had idolized as a child, the team he had galvanized as a young pro.

On November 5, 2017, Duchene was traded to the Ottawa Senators (infamously, in the middle of a game between the Avs and the New York Islanders), as part of a three-team deal involving the Nashville Predators. It took nearly 18 months for Duchene to be traded after his request was made public, and many media members and fans criticized then-general manager Joe Sakic for not expediting the exodus of someone clearly unhappy playing in Denver.

But the return package that Sakic waited for has since been studied and modeled because the franchise used that trade as a springboard into stardom and an eventual Stanley Cup victory in 2022. Sakic was dealing from a place of power, as Duchene still had three years left on his contract with Colorado, so he waited for a deal he felt was most likely to pay dividends for the Avs.

The excitement around said returns revitalized the team's hopes, especially after the lows of the brutal 2016-17 season, which saw the sputtering Avs set the wrong kinds of records while recording an abysmal 48 points. Long-time Avs' defenseman Erik Johnson would refer to the trade as a "Picasso," signifying how important it was in the remarkable turnaround Colorado would take in the seasons after it was finalized. Sakic went on to win the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award in 2022, cementing his legacy as "Trader Joe," and establishing himself as one of the most savvy GMs in the NHL.

Eight seasons later, the effects of the Duchene trade are still felt in Denver. Samuel Girard — and through further trades — Charlie Coyle and Scott Wedgewood are all rostered by the Avalanche as a result of Duchene's departure. Girard has been with the team since the trade occurred, playing 543 games in that time, and has developed in a dependable middle-pairing defenseman. Coyle is a steady presence on the Avs' third-line, and Wedgewood is arguably already the most reliable backup the Avs have had in the last decade decade (Francouz's injuries disqualify him here). As the Avalanche look to survive the first round against Dallas this year, these three players will play an integral role in Colorado's aspirations of a fourth Stanley Cup.

On the other side of the rink, Duchene is playing some of the best hockey of his career. In the 2024-25 season, he led the Dallas Stars in games played (only he and Wyatt Johnston played the full 82), assists (52), and points (82). After being bought out of an 8mil AAV deal by the Nashville Predators on June 30, 2023, Duchene has signed "prove-it" deals for consecutive years, worth $3mil AAV, for the Dallas Stars; he is most certainly due for a raise, and he appears to have found a comfortable fit as he wraps up his age-34 season. He is currently centering the Stars' second line and first powerplay unit, and he's been a pest against the Avs throughout his post-Colorado career.

Mikko Rantanen

So much, already, has been written about the still-recent Mikko Rantanen trades to Carolina and then to Dallas, and it's difficult to take a measured, objective look at the deal that initially sent him out of Colorado. Emotions are still raw, and outcomes and legacies are yet to be cemented, but one thing is certain: the Mikko Rantanen era in Colorado is over.

What an era it was, though. Rantanen was drafted 10th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, and he had all the makings of a future star. After a brief stint with the Avs early in the 2015-16 season, he would be named captain of Team Finland — the ultimate gold medal winners — in the 2016 World Junior Championship. In the following NHL season, Rantanen became a regular NHLer and began establishing himself as one of the premier right wingers in all of hockey.

For a decade, Rantanen routinely ranked as one of the best point-producers in the league and became an elite powerplay specialist. For years, Avs fans were treated to one of the best top lines in the NHL: Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen. The Finnish megastar would help the Avs win their third Stanley Cup in 2022, but the writing was on the wall soon thereafter: paydays were coming to the top dogs (and the top Dawg), and it was going to be a struggle to keep everyone under contract without becoming (or, in the minds of many, remaining) a top-heavy team.

Despite reports that Rantanen wanted to stay in Colorado, the Avs, who were already in the midst of one of the most roster-mixup-laden seasons in modern NHL history, were not willing to commit money they didn't really have, even to a homegrown star like Rantanen. The offer believed to have been made by Avs GM Chris MacFarland was in the ballpark of $11.5-11.75mil AAV for the league maximum eight years. Rantanen and his agent were pushing for $14x8, although Rantanen also stated he was willing to come down on the AAV. As the deadline loomed, Rantanen remained unsigned, and the Avs remained in need of scoring depth; the Avs' front office had some tough decisions to make.

Ultimately, in a move that even Rantanen didn't see coming, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes (in another three-team trade) that also included the Chicago Blackhawks. In exchange, the Avs received Jack Drury, Martin Nečas, and two draft picks. Rantanen (who was traded to the Dallas Stars and summarily signed an eight-year 12mil AAV deal) has a new home and an impressive contract (interestingly similiar to what the Avs were offering). While his statistics in his first few months apart from the Avs have certainly dipped, there's no denying his generational talents.

The return package for the Rantanen trade — and the cap flexibility opened up as a result of it — has made an immediate impact on this season and could continue to positively affect the Avs down the line. It might hurt now, but it may also end up being a move that helps solidify the future for an Avs team still planted firmly in its Cup window. To quote Moneyball: "...if you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing that you got [him] off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities."

Reflections, Realities

From 2015-16 through part of the 2017-18 season, Duchene and Rantanen were teammates in Colorado. Together, they helped comprise an up-and-coming roster still in desperate need of refinement and experience. Now, a decade later, they are teammates again, wearing numbers 95 and 96, respectively, and manning the Stars' top powerplay unit and finding chemistry all over again. These players understand the realities of professional sports, and they know grudges are held, feelings are hurt, mistakes are made, etc. But this current matchup against Colorado is one filled with more emotion than usual for both of them.

Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen have seemingly found a new home in Dallas, as Rantanen is locked-in long-term, and Duchene will almost certainly re-sign with a multi-year deal. While they and the Dallas Stars may be one game away from eliminating the Avalanche for the second year in a row, without their respective trades, the Avalanche would not have its top-line right winger (Nečas), its current third and fourth-line centers (Coyle and Drury), its often-overshadowed star defenseman (Girard), or its backup netminder (Wedgewood). And, tangentially connected to the Rantanen trade, the Avs very well may not have had the cap space confidence to trade for Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, Brock Nelson, and much-beloved Erik Johnson.

It's impossible to predict where the Avs would be if these two trades hadn't happened or if things had played out differently, but one thing is crystal clear: neither the Dallas Stars nor the Colorado Avalanche would be anywhere near as poised to hoist the Stanley Cup this year without these blockbuster trades.

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