Austrian stepping in for Mikko

Austrian forward Andre Burakovsky came to North America at age 18 to play Canadian major-junior with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League for the 2013-14 season. He became teammates with Connor Mcdavid, a 16-year-old phenom from the province, and finished right behind Mcdavid in scoring with 87 points in 57 games.

Mcdavid, who scored 99 points, went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, the second Canadian center selected first overall in three years, joining the Avs’ Nathan Mackinnon (2013).

Burakovsky, a left-shooting right-winger, excelled while playing with Mcdavid, and now he’s hoping to do the same playing alongside Mackinnon, who was the runnerup for the 2018 Hart Trophy as league MVP.

Burakovsky, 24, is now Mackinnon’s right-winger because Mikko Rantanen remains in Europe due to a contract dispute.

Given that Rantanen’s agent revealed last week that his Finnish client and the Avs are “not close” in agreeing to a contract, one that would undoubtedly make the 2019 NHL All-star the team’s highest-paid player, Burakovsky is firmly entrenched on what was considered the NHL’S top line last season.

Mackinnon, left-wing Gabe Landeskog and Rantanen make up the MGM Line. With Mackinnon, Landeskog and Burakovsky, perhaps it’s now the MLB Line — perhaps the Avs’ starting line in their Oct. 3 regular-season opener.

“Great opportunity,” Burakovsky said Friday, a day after making his Avalanche preseason debut. “I want to have more responsibility and play more. I want to be a key player. I think that’s what I’m meant to be and it just hadn’t turned out that way in Washington. So I’m getting the opportunity here and excited to play with Landy and Mac. I think we’ve been going pretty good so far. Just want to keep it up.”

Burakovsky, 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds, was acquired from Washington in a trade

on June 28. The Avs gave up second- and thirdround 2020 draft picks for a 2018 Stanley Cup champion who was selected in the first round (23rd overall) in 2013. He wanted out of Washington because he was rarely used in a topsix manner.

Now he’s top-three with the Avalanche, though he’s never scored more than 17 goals or had more than 38 points in an NHL season. The Avs believe he can be an adequate replacement for a guy who had 31 goals and 87 points last season and led Colorado in playoff scoring with 14 points in 12 games.

“I feel good about it,” Landeskog said about Burakovsky replacing Rantanen. “He’s got a great skill set. He’s got a good attitude, he’s excited to be here and he wants to make a difference. We’re working on things. We’re trying to get him up-to-date on systems and things like that which is never easy to do — to just dive in to. But so far we’re very happy with how our line looks.”

Burakovsky logged 19:11 of ice time Thursday, thirdmost among forwards behind Landeskog (22:17) and Mackinnon (21:31). The line was a combined minus-3 with seven shots.

“They had flashes. They did some good things. (But) that line looked like they were feeling it out, still,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said.

Ideally, the Avs want both Burakovsky and Rantanen as top-six right-wing options. If and when Rantanen, 22, and the club agrees on a new contract, it won’t automatically mean the MGM Line is back in play. Perhaps Rantanen is placed on the second line with another key addition, center Nazem Kadri.

But with Burakovsky and Kadri, plus fellow new forwards Joonas Donskoi and Pierre-edouard Bellemare, the Avs are deeper up front.

Rantanen’s arrival would make them downright dangerous.

Wild 4, Avalanche 3. Mats Zuccarello scored the deciding goal and had two assists to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win over the Avalanche on Saturday night in preseason play in St. Paul, Minn.

Zuccarello, signed to five-year, $30 million free agent contract by the Wild on July 1, assisted on goals by Jason Zucker and Eric Staal in the second period. Matt Dumba also scored for Minnesota, and Devan Dubnyk had 30 saves.

Ty Lewis, Jayson Megna and Conor Timmins scored for Colorado, and Pavel Francouz stopped 22 shots.

Mike Chambers: mchambers @denverpost .com or @mike chambers