3 players the Colorado Avalanche can’t afford to lose in 2024-25

As the Colorado Avalanche try to get back to the Stanley Cup Final, what would be their first appearance since winning it all in 2021-22, they have had to deal with several unfortunate losses.

Gabriel Landeskog has not played since that playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their Stanley cup-winning goaltenders, Darcy Kuemper (free agency) and Pavel Francouz (retirement due to an injury), are gone.

Despite key departures at the goaltender position, Alexandar Georgiev had the most wins of any goaltender last year. It definitely helps that he has some key players in front of him. Let’s take a look at three of those players who the team cannot afford to lose for many games in the 2024-25 season.

3. Mikko Rantanen

The Moose, as they call him, was a key contributor on the Colorado Avalanche over the past three seasons in particular. He surpassed 100 points in each of the past two seasons, and came very close to reaching that mark three years ago, during the team’s Stanley Cup run (92 points).

Rantanen is a maniac on the ice, and a lot of that has to do with his size, as he stands at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. He’s a great skater and as evident by his rate of scoring, is a huge piece to the Avalanche puzzle.

Rantanen would be a huge loss to this offense. He might not score the most goals on the team, but his ability to be a threat to score makes teams have to focus on him quite a bit. Having him on the same line as Nathan MacKinnon is a deadly combination.

Rantanen is set to receive a contract extension sometime in the near future. There was word several weeks ago that the two sides were close to a deal, but it is possible that recent extensions across the league have chanced that perspective. Either way, I don’t expect it to take much longer. Hopefully it is complete by the beginning of the season.