Mikko Rantanen should soon be the Avs’ highest-paid player, but deal is still in the works.
Gabe Landeskog said what I was thinking. The Avalanche captain knows Mikko Rantanen far better than any reporter, but to know Rantanen at any level means you might not know a more pleasant person.
Which is why, as his friend, Landeskog would never allow Rantanen to negotiate his next contract on his own.
“As much as he’d like to be here, he can’t go out and sign an eight-year deal at $1 million a year just to be nice,” Landeskog told me.
Rantanen, 22, has missed the first three days of Avalanche training camp, including Friday and Saturday’s on-ice sessions, because he doesn’t have a contract as a restricted free agent coming out of the three-year, entry-level deal. But he’s the last guy who would ever disrupt the Avs’ locker room over a salary dispute.
Which is why Rantanen’s absence is not a distraction. Because of who he is, his teammates know it’s killing him not being in camp.
“Mikko is the ultimate team player,” Landeskog said. “I’ve known Mikko for three-plus years and he’s a quality person, a quality teammate. You couldn’t ask for a better guy to have in the locker room and have as one of your top players. He shows up with a smile on his face every single day and works his absolute hardest.”
Rantanen, who was still in his native Finland as of Monday, is destined to be the Avs’ top-paid player — likely in the $10.5 million range. He’ll enjoy the money but I’m willing to bet he’d rather not have that label.
Rantanen returned from his first All-star Game appearance in January with the hat he was given during the weekend festivities in San Jose, Calif. He really liked the black-and-white hat,
but he didn’t like the white “Allstar” lettering on the back. So he took a permanent black marker to the hat, erasing any mention that he was something special.
Rantanen doesn’t want the attention. But for himself, his family, his future family and his peers, he needs to get what he’s worth. The NHL Players Association and his agents don’t want him to take a “nice-guy” discount. His teammates are probably rooting for Rantanen among themselves.
“At the end of the day — and I want people to know — we love Mikko and Mikko loves this team, this organization,” Landeskog said.
This is not 2012 when Ryan O’reilly wanted big money coming out of his ELC and went on to miss much of that lockout-shortened season of 2012-13 . O’reilly wanted far more money than star center Matt Duchene — who had signed a modest two-year “bridge” deal worth $3.5 million annually on June 23, 2012 — and the Avs’ brass at the time wanted O’reilly to fall in line behind Duchene.
O’reilly was coming off a modest 18-goal, 55-point season of 2011-12. In comparison, Rantanen produced 31 goals and 87 points last season at the same age.
Today’s market suggests Rantanen is worth at least $10.5 million annually — particularly because his best same-age RFA comparison, Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, signed a six-year deal worth nearly $10.9 million annually Friday. The first domino has fallen. Landeskog hopes Rantanen, his linemate, is next.
“Hopefully that means that our big Moose (Rantanen) is coming back as well,” Landeskog said of Marner’s contract. “But we’ll see. I’m not at the negotiation table. I don’t what their conversation is like. But hopefully, he’s back soon.”