Predicting the contract extension for Colorado Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen

The Colorado Avalanche extended Nathan MacKinnon to a contract that was worth $12.6 million annually over the course of eight seasons. He’ll earn $100.8 million by the end of that deal. Another player the team has to look at giving an extension to is Mikko Rantanen.

Rantanen is 27 years old and has recorded back-to-back 100-plus point seasons over the last two years, while missing just two regular season games during that time.

Currently, Rantanen’s deal is for $9.25 million AAV, so an extension would most certainly put him at or above the $10 million AAV mark.

As Rantanen is only 27, the ideal term would be something like seven or eight years, in my opinion.

According to Spotrac, the Colorado Avalanche will have, as of right now, around $21.2 million to play with in 2025-26, and the team probably could make that sort of contract for Rantanen work.

When you factor in the other pending free agents, however, $21.2 million doesn’t quite seem like enough. The Avalanche will have a couple of free agents that will command a little bit more money than the lower-level players. Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, left wing Jonathan Drouin, and center Logan O’Connor are also scheduled to hit free agency next offseason. That’s not ideal.

Drouin surprisingly re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche on a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. Either he didn’t see the type of money most expected him to get from another team, or he just really wanted to continue what he was doing with the Avalanche. It wouldn’t surprise me if Drouin refuses to take a low-money deal again if he does about the same or even better than last season.

That being said, Rantanen will be the top priority of the Colorado Avalanche until they and his side work out a long-term deal. The ones I just mentioned are all obviously very important to this team, and I’m sure that at least some of those deals will come together, but right now, the focus should be on Rantanen.

I’m not too worried about a deal getting done. I’m certain that it will happen—it’s just a matter of when.