Latest Report on Colorado Avalanche & Mikko Rantanen Extension Talk

There are some very big names eligible for extension this summer, as they get set to head into the final years of their contracts. Leon Draisaitl is the biggest one, but All-Star Mikko Rantanen isn't too far behind in Colorado. The latest update on this comes from hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, who hears that there is "optimism" on this front.

I did have some teams tell me that they do think there's some optimism that Colorado and Rantanen can get something done.

It will obviously be a very big number for Rantanen, who's wrapping up his six-year, $9.25 million AAV deal, and has just posted his first two 100-point seasons, including a 50-goal and 40-goal year.

"(Rival teams) don't feel that Rantanen is going to be a hard one to get done," said Friedman.

Clubs are scratching Draisaitl and Rantanen off their lists as potential UFAs for next season.

As for Rantanen, the three-time All-Star and former first-round selection (10th overall, 2015), he has totaled 97 goals in the past two seasons, and this past year, posted 42 goals and 104 points with a plus/minus rating of +19 while playing a career-high 22:54 minutes per night.

The 27-year-old is likely to get a pay raise taking him very close to the range of his teammate Nathan MacKinnon, who earns $12.6 million annually (2nd in the NHL going into the coming season). All one must do is look at what the Toronto Maple Leafs handed William Nylander this past season ($11.5 million x 8 years), and Rantanen's number starts to come into view. The Avalanche star finished with slightly better numbers than Nylander across the board, so it's reasonable to assume that he comes in somewhere between $11.5M–$12M AAV.

We know it's a priority in Colorado to get this done, though it might be worth remembering that for his last extension in 2019, it was delayed enough into September that he missed some of training camp. We'll keep an eye on this one, but it sounds like things are moving in the right direction.