The obvious stars on the Colorado Avalanche would be Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Not far behind, however, is the guy that everybody calls “The Moose.” That would be 6-foot-4 winger Mikko Rantanen. Drafted 10th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, Rantanen has shown his strength and ability to score over the years.
Rantanen has 262 goals and 355 assists in his career, which included zero points during his rookie year, when he played in just nine games. He passed 100 points in each of the last two regular seasons—104 last year and 105 the year before. He also recorded his best average time on ice for his career last year, 22:54.
His plus-minus stats over the past two seasons have not been quite as good at the two seasons prior. He was plus-15 and plus-19 for these two most recent seasons and the two seasons before that, he was plus-30 and plus-35.
Regardless, he is still one of the top players on the team, and even in all of hockey. He is often in the top-10 of player lists across various hockey sites.
Predicting Rantanen’s stats for the 2024-25 NHL season for the Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche are on a mission to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final. They can’t do it without Rantanen. With Valeri Nichushkin set to miss the first month-plus of the season, Rantanen is going to have to step up big time to help keep the ship afloat.
It is also possible that Gabriel Landeskog returns this season, as he has pointed out as being the goal. I don’t think that Rantanen is going to carry the team on his back, so the additions of those two players should help him have a very strong season.
Last season, when he racked up 104 points, He missed two games. Putting that into perspective, I think that Rantanen is going to reach and perhaps surpass 110 points, making the 2024-25 season the best of his career. That is if he does not miss many games.
It’s hard for me to think that Rantanen will go below 100 point for the first time in three years. He’s trending upwards.
Keep in mind that, as of this writing, he has not signed a contract extension. If those talks carry over into the regular season, he is going to have something to prove to help him get as much money as possible in his new contract. The term of the contract is also expected to be the maximum of seven years—eight if re-signing with his current team.