William Nylander’s recent extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs helps create a comparable for Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen.
Recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended a ridiculous saga by signing RFA forward William Nylander to a six-year deal worth $6.9 million annually. This sent shockwaves around the league, as the Leafs got yet another talented forward back in the lineup. You can be sure the Colorado Avalanche were paying close attention because they’ll have to go through a similar dance with star forward Mikko Rantanen next summer.
After this season, he’ll be a restricted free agent. Much like Nylander, this will be Rantanen’s first post-entry level contract. And, much like the Leafs, the Avalanche will desperately want to sign their star forward long-term.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
Nylander’s contract sets a pretty solid floor for Rantanen’s negotiations. After all, the two forwards are fairly similar, except the latter has better five-on-five numbers. Sure, you could argue that’s because Rantanen has played regularly with Nathan MacKinnon. However, the former has the better overall numbers. That said, Nylander had slightly over two seasons while Rantanen will have three (and his first was spent on a historically bad team).
Rantanen should make more than Nylander for several reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason is the Leafs had to consider future extensions to guys like Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews while signing their young forward. This likely caused Nylander to have to take a little bit of a discount.
The Avalanche won’t have that excuse to fall back on. Rantanen and his agent, if they are smart, will realize most of Colorado’s best players (specifically MacKinnon, Erik Johnson, and Gabriel Landeskog) are locked up long-term. Because they were done so at pretty reasonable prices, the Avalanche have a ton of cap space.
Secondly, Rantanen is going to be in an even better situation than Nylander was. He has better five-on-five numbers right now and it’s hard to see that changing. By the time the offseason comes, Rantanen will likely see his value go up even further because chances are, he’ll have averaged a point per game over each of his last two seasons.
Thirdly, the Avalanche likely won’t be in a position to be as patient with Rantanen as the Leafs were with Nylander. Even without Nylander, the Maple Leafs still boasted an insanely good lineup. Sure, the Avalanche will still have MacKinnon, but Rantanen will be able to point to the center having his best two seasons with him as his primary wing.
Ultimately, it would be a bit to see Rantanen sign a deal with an average annual value of below $7 million. He’ll have the leverage and numbers to become the Avalanche’s highest paid player. That’s not to say Rantanen’s better than MacKinnon. But it’s not a stretch to say the former will be in a better position than the latter was back in 2016.
Both MacKinnon and the Avalanche took a risk signing a seven-year deal worth $6.3 million a year back then. The player sacrificed the potential for a bigger payday for security, while the team took a chance on a player who had yet to fully realize his true potential. MacKinnon’s deal was worth about nine percent of the salary cap ceiling back in 2016. If Rantanen gets a deal with the same salary cap percentage, that would put him at around $7.15 million.
If MacKinnon has any issues with Rantanen making more money than him, he has nobody to blame but his agent and himself. But he doesn’t seem to be the type of guy who cares about that kind of stuff. Both the Avalanche and Rantanen should be thankful for the Leafs and Nylander because it should make things easier for both parties next summer.