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[Speculation] Avalanche Rumors: Mikko Rantanen's Next Contract To Be "Very, Very Expensive"


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Avalanche Rumors: Mikko Rantanen's Next Contract To Be "Very, Very Expensive"


James Wilson 

Friday, September 27, 2024 

 

Speculation surrounding Mikko Rantanen's next contract suggests he is poised to secure one of the largest deals in the NHL. 

 

According to Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor of Daily Faceoff, the Colorado Avalanche star’s average annual value (AAV) is expected to start at $12 million. 
 

Gregor further predicts, “$12.5 million is what he gets,” placing Rantanen just below teammate Nathan MacKinnon, who carries a $12.6 million AAV. 

Both analysts agree that Rantanen will become one of the league's highest-paid players.

 

Rantanen's recent production justifies such a lucrative extension. 

He is coming off consecutive 100-point seasons, including a career-best 55 goals and 105 points in 2022-23, followed by another 104-point campaign. 

 

His consistency as a top-tier forward makes comparisons to recent contracts like William Nylander's $11.5 million AAV or David Pastrnak’s $11.25 million deal inevitable, but Rantanen’s overall game is likely to push his next contract higher. 
 

As Seravalli put it, “It’s going to be very, very expensive,” with his next AAV predicted to start in the $12 million range.

 

Despite the Avalanche's salary cap challenges, retaining Rantanen is seen as essential to keeping their championship window open alongside MacKinnon and Cale Makar. 

 

Analysts believe his next contract will likely be in the seven- to eight-year range, ensuring Colorado secures its core for the long term. 
 

As one analyst noted, “It’s a lock that he ends up in the top five for AAVs,” as rising contracts across the league set new benchmarks for elite talent like Rantanen.

 

 

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2024/09/avalanche-rumors-mikko-rantanens-next.html

 

 

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I think the article is just illustrative of how rapidly salaries are increasing in contrast to cap and that most teams, if they want to compete, will have no choice but to become very top heavy like EDM, TOR in order to retain their top talent.
 

The larger reason I posted it though is because higher salaries across the board mean a tougher time for CDN markets to compete for top tier talent when factoring in tax rates among other things. For the most part the revenue will still be there, but to remain competitive against certain teams south of the border could become increasingly more difficult. 

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12-13M sounds right, he'll be due for a new deal at the end of the season

 

Makar and Hughes probably get more, they've got three seasons before their raise kicks in, I expect their deals to be pretty similar and for them both to raise the bar for what premium quality D get paid 

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2 hours ago, Coconuts said:

12-13M sounds right, he'll be due for a new deal at the end of the season

 

Makar and Hughes probably get more, they've got three seasons before their raise kicks in, I expect their deals to be pretty similar and for them both to raise the bar for what premium quality D get paid 

Quite possibly become their generations versions  of Doughty and EK, we all know how that worked out for their respective teams.    

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21 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Quite possibly become their generations versions  of Doughty and EK, we all know how that worked out for their respective teams.    

 

Possibly, but both Doughty and Karlsson earned those deals. Karlsson was doing what Hughes and Makar are doing when it wasn't as much a norm for D to play the way he did. Obviously offensive D aren't unique to the new millennium, but Karlsson sure looked like something new imo, he's been a special player for most of his career in the same manner that Hughes and Makar are now. He's been a bit of a trailblazer, you know the current young/mid 20's crop of D likely looked at him while they were coming up. 

 

Doughty, he earned it too, LA doesn't win those cups without Doughty. He's routinely been one of the league's top minute munchers since he stepped into the league, he's also got a Norris and international Canadian hardware to show for it. I'm a fan of his game, and his body of work. 

 

Hughes and Makar will be paid premium dollars, but they'll have earned them based on their bodies of work. I get the argument that players are getting paid too quickly coming off their ELC's, but while scrutiny attached to larger money deals in general is warranted, I think the degree of it needs to be tempered by what the players have done in order to command those dollars; particularly when the contract being given out is a third contract. 

 

Hughes and Makar lead the charge amongst the cream of the crop of NHL D, their next contracts being accordingly weighed against cap increases is inevitable. 

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1 hour ago, Coconuts said:

 

Possibly, but both Doughty and Karlsson earned those deals. Karlsson was doing what Hughes and Makar are doing when it wasn't as much a norm for D to play the way he did. Obviously offensive D aren't unique to the new millennium, but Karlsson sure looked like something new imo, he's been a special player for most of his career in the same manner that Hughes and Makar are now. He's been a bit of a trailblazer, you know the current young/mid 20's crop of D likely looked at him while they were coming up. 

 

Doughty, he earned it too, LA doesn't win those cups without Doughty. He's routinely been one of the league's top minute munchers since he stepped into the league, he's also got a Norris and international Canadian hardware to show for it. I'm a fan of his game, and his body of work. 

 

Hughes and Makar will be paid premium dollars, but they'll have earned them based on their bodies of work. I get the argument that players are getting paid too quickly coming off their ELC's, but while scrutiny attached to larger money deals in general is warranted, I think the degree of it needs to be tempered by what the players have done in order to command those dollars; particularly when the contract being given out is a third contract. 

 

Hughes and Makar lead the charge amongst the cream of the crop of NHL D, their next contracts being accordingly weighed against cap increases is inevitable. 

This right here

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15 minutes ago, GrammaInTheTub said:

This right here

 

As a Canucks fan, I absolutely want any Hughes deal to favour the Canucks, and the same can probably be said of Avs fans regarding Makar. But as a hockey fan, I also believe players should generally go for the money while they can, and that star players generally don't give significant discounts. Obviously the scales are different regarding money, but most people generally wouldn't want to take less than they feel they're worth at their jobs, I don't see why this also wouldn't apply to athletes. NHL owners are billionaires, the NHL is a billion dollar business, of course players should try and grab their chunk. 

 

It's interesting, lot of hockey fans obviously want high end youth and high end talent on their roster, but it's interesting to watch the narrative shift as those players want to get paid. We saw it with Pettersson, things began to shift around here as we got closer and closer to his deal expiring, we also saw it with Hronek, we'll probably see it with Hughes too; we may see it with Demko and Boeser as well to varying degrees. Some folks want to have their cake and eat it too, and I just don't see that as being realistic most of the time. 

 

I don't know when players being paid market value began to be viewed as a negative given that it's far more common for this to happen than for players to take meaningful discounts. Obviously neither a fanbase or an organization want to overpay if they can help it, but players being paid their value can be a positive, if not a neutral factor imo. Just because a deal doesn't favour a franchise doesn't mean a deal is bad. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how the narratives swirl as we have to pay more members of our core over the next few seasons. 

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