Rantanen will hopefully serve as a lesson for the Avalanche
Photo credit: The Denver Post
You don't trade stars for depth players. In what was arguably the most painful Game 7 loss in Avalanche history, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson were non-factors from start to finish.
The four Avalanche forwards who were brought in to fill the void left by Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon's longtime linemate, combined for just 12 points across the seven-game series against the Dallas Stars.
Have the Avalanche learned from their mistakes?
When the Avalanche needed someone to step up in Game 7, especially with star defenseman Cale Makar unable to deliver, the supporting cast failed to answer the call, letting the series slip away unanswered, writes Sean Keeler from The Denver Post.
Rantanen, who was dealt to Carolina by the Avalanche on January 25 after a decade with the team, had consistently averaged a point per game in playoff Games 6 and 7 for Colorado since 2020.
Here's what Avalanche President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic had to say said Tuesday afternoon when asked about trading away Rantanen.
«We felt we had to get deeper, and not only for this season's team, but moving forward. Just paying three high-end guys and not having a surrounding cast wasn't going to get it done.» -Sakic
If fortune has any mercy, the Avalanche will walk away from this painful weekend with two hard lessons. First, Rantanen is a future Hall-of-Famer and one of the elite players of his era. Second, the hockey gods, those same ones GM Chris MacFarland alluded to, don't take kindly to sacrificing star talent for depth pieces.
«You know, (with) the hockey gods, I think that's just a way of saying, 'Did you get the job done or not? Obviously, there were some strange goals both ways in the series. I think you earn your breaks.» -MacFarland
Before arriving in Colorado, Martin Necas and Jack Drury had only played in seven career playoff games with Carolina, tallying just four points combined. In the final two games of the Avalanche-Stars series, the pair managed just two points between them. Rantanen, meanwhile, put up eight.
"If the reports are true that the Avs and Rantanen were squabbling over a $500,000 difference in annual salary, then C-Mac and Super Joe might've just kissed the rest of MacKinnon's career peak goodbye. They also might've set a proud franchise back half a decade." -Keeler
The Stars came out on top in the Rantanen trade, a deal that, in hindsight, never should've happened. To be fair to MacFarland, once contract extension talks broke down, he opted to send Rantanen as far from the Western Conference as possible.
"When you break up the band, the music's never quite the same, is it? It's why the Blackhawks kept Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith together through three Stanley Cups in Chicago." -Keeler
You don't trade elite players for lesser ones. Rantanen is set to earn $12 million annually from the Stars over the next three seasons. In comparison, the combined 2024-25 salaries of Necas ($6.5 million), Nelson ($3 million), and Drury ($1.75 million) add up to $11.25 million, slightly less than Rantanen alone, but without matching his impact.
In the playoffs, it's not just about the money you spend, you usually get what you deserve.
| POLL | ||
MAI 16 | 10 ANSWERS Rantanen will hopefully serve as a lesson for the Avalanche Do you think the Rantanen trade goes down as the worst trade in Avalanche history? | ||
| yes | 6 | 60 % |
| no | 4 | 40 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
