So Mikko Rantanen Is Just One Of The Best Players In The NHL Now, Huh?
So when you talk about the Colorado Avalanche turning things around, the conversation typically starts and ends with Nathan MacKinnon. Which–to be fair–is exactly how that conversation should go. Nathan MacKinnon is a full-fledged superstar in the NHL. But Mikko Rantanen has now got it to the point where you at least have to mention his name every time you talk about the Colorado Avalanche. He had 84 points in 81 games last year and if you thought that was just a lucky year, he’s currently the league leader in points this year with 26 in 17 games. And this dish to Tyson Barrie last night was pure, unadulterated filth.
Notices that Barrie has a step on Rieder. Puts this pass between the legs of Chiasson and in a spot where Barrie, a right-handed shooter, could still get a shot off here on his forehand instead of having to try to deflect this pass off the backhand. I don’t think a lot of people are going to be able to understand how perfect that assist was. Rantanen had a window of about 3 inches to fit that puck into. First off, he needed to get it through Chiasson’s skates. Then if he put it too far behind Barrie, Rieder would have been able to get a stick on it and break up the shot. But if he put it too far ahead of Barrie, it would have needed to be a backhand deflection that probably wouldn’t have had enough juice on it to end up in the back of the net. There was no wiggle room for Rantanen to fuck that pass up but that didn’t matter. Puck’s in the back of the net and it caps off a 2-point night for the 22-year-old to take the league lead in points.
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And yes. This kid is only 22 years old. He’s the same draft as Connor McDavid. Now out of that draft class, McDavid is dummying the shit out of everybody in terms of career points so far. He has 279 in 226 career games. #2 on that list of Jack Eichel with 196 career points in the same amount of games. But Mikko Rantanen has climbed up to 4th on that list with 148 points in 182 games, and he’ll probably keep climbing up that list as the season goes on. He went from 38 points his rookie year to 84 points his 2nd year in the league. I’m no math major or anything like that but if he continues to progress at the same rate, then he’s on pace for damn near 130 points this year. Not saying it’s going to happen or anything but we also haven’t seen enough yet to definitively say it’s not going to happen either.
The moral of the story here is that Mikko Rantanen is a certified weapon and that is a dangerous artillery when you get to put him out there with Nathan MacKinnon every night.