The Colorado Avalanche are set to face the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the first round of the 2025 NHL playoff on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center. The matchup has been in the cards for a while, so it’s not surprising to see these two clubs lock horns.
While the Avalanche will be looking for revenge for last year’s second-round exit at the hands of the Stars, one major storyline emerges. The Colorado Avalanche will be facing their ex, Mikko Rantanen in the NHL playoffs.
The Avalanche traded Rantanen in a blockbuster deal in January to the Carolina Hurricanes. Since then, the Hurricanes moved Rantanen a second time, trading him to the Dallas Stars after the Hurricanes and Rantanen could not agree on a contract extension.
In what seemed like a cruel twist of fate. Rantanen ended up with the Stars, the team that would just so happen to face the Avalanche, his former club, in the first playoff round.
The situation is reminiscent of the 1988 Wayne Gretzky trade. The Edmonton Oilers traded the Great One to the Los Angeles Kings during the summer of 1988. The next postseason, the Kings faced the Oilers in the first round.
Guess what? Gretzky and the underdog Kings bounced the defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers in the first round.
Now, I’m not suggesting Mikko Rantanen and the Stars will bounce the Avalanche. But the parallels are quite similar.
Win or lose, the Rantanen storyline has plenty of implications for the Avalanche and Stars that could overshadow some of the action on the ice.
Colorado Avalanche cannot afford to let Mikko Rantanen beat them
The Dallas Stars are a tremendously deep team. They have at least three lines that could score and show solid two-way play.
But amid the significant depth in Dallas’ lineup, the Avalanche cannot afford to let Rantanen beat them. If anything, the Avalanche must force Dallas’ depth to emerge as the deciding factor in the series.
The advantage is that the Avs are quite familiar with Rantanen’s strengths and weaknesses. As such, the Avs can find ways to neutralize Rantanen. Doing so would force the Stars to have other players like Matt Duchene, another former Avalanche, beat them.
Similarly, other depth pieces like Evgenii Dadonov and captain Jamie Benn could step up if Colorado can successfully shut down Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, and Tyler Seguin.
It won’t be an easy series for either side, to say the least. But from a psychological perspective, the Avalanche cannot afford to let Mikko Rantanen be the one to drive the dagger home.