Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen is among the group of top-level restricted free agents that appear to be holding up much of the remaining offseason activity. While he’s also in the group that appears to be waiting for other players to sign first, GM Joe Sakic told NHL.com’s Rick Sadowski that they are open to doing a short-term deal although their preference is to get something longer done.
Despite that preference, it doesn’t appear as if much has been done in an effort to secure a long-term contract. Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater reports that there have been no discussions between Colorado and Rantanen’s agent Mike Liut dating back to an informal discussion back at the draft.
While daily discussions certainly aren’t a requirement in these types of negotiations, both sides typically check in from time to time to see if progress can be made. On the surface, this report would suggest that there is a sizable gap to bridge and both sides are waiting for the other to make the first move towards a compromise.
Rantanen is coming off of a career year that saw him collect 87 points despite missing the final eight games of the regular season due to an upper-body injury. It was the second straight year that he eclipsed the 80-point plateau which has him in line to be one of the top-paid RFAs in this class. A deal in the $9MM to $10MM range is likely at this point unless he winds up with a bridge contract that doesn’t buy out any UFA eligibility. However, Liut’s track record would suggest a short-term agreement isn’t likely.
With still a month to go before the start of training camps, there’s still plenty of time to get something done although the lack of substantive discussions thus far is a little surprising. At the very least, the Avs won’t have any issue fitting Rantanen into their salary cap as they currently sit with more than $16MM in cap room, per CapFriendly. That mitigates the risk of an offer sheet (as minor as that risk may be) but it appears that there’s a long way to go to get a deal done.
Would it be weird to sign him to a 9.75 per for 7 years and then do a trade with Calgary for Brodie since they have the cap space wouldn’t take more then a 3rd rounder and a minor prospect and you get your replacement for Berrie
Lol what? No one in their right mind would do that trade… Unless they’re rooting for Calgary
lolwat
Keep rantanen. Separate move, trade for Brodie lol
Never seen so many good young RFAs still out there this long.
Mike Liut? Wow! That’s a blast from the past
Calgary needs defenseman preferably right hand shot. They have Tkachuk as FA to sign , they can’t take on another contract at that rate when they have to sign one of their own top forwards.
Well put, again, Gerald! Beat me to it by 10 min. Boys – remember we’re in the *hard cap* era, where trades can’t just be done, willy-nilly like the old days. Joey isn’t likely to trade Rantanen, period. Everybody outside of the G.T.A is waiting on the Marner domino to fall. Only those guys who don’t want to cripple/harm their team with a holdout will sign by opening day, if not sooner. How many will that be? Your guess is as good as mine…
Brodie want be going nowhere, they are in talks around league as stated Treliving hopes his GM friends will help , and heard on NHL Network they maybe looking at Ben Hutton or Jake Gardiner.