Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen is having a wildly underappreciated season.
The Avalanche in general haven’t been as strong this season as they were last season, so most of the storylines surrounding this club haven’t been focused on the positives.
Between offseason departures and in-season injuries, most notably to Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche have compiled a 23-17-3 record. If the season ended today, Colorado would not be a playoff team.
Despite all of that, Rantanen has stepped up, just as he has done in the past, and been exactly what this team needed to stay afloat as it navigates this 2022-2023 season.
Mikko Rantanen has had an incredible season so far for the Avalanche.
He has not missed a game yet this year, playing in all 43 Avalanche contests. In those 43 games, Rantanen has scored a team-leading 31 goals to go with 25 assists for 56 points, also the most among Colorado skaters.
In goals, Rantanen ranks fourth in the NHL, while his 56 points give him the ninth-best mark league-wide.
Rantanen is in the top three when it comes to Avalanche skaters in plus-minus, power play goals, and ice time. In addition, his 22:54 average ice time leads all Colorado forwards.
As a result of his impressive season, the 26-year-old has been announced as one of the final players voted into the All-Star Game to represent the Central Division.
This season has been nothing short of spectacular for the 2015 first-round pick, but that’s nothing new. Rantanen is on pace for his fifth point-per-game season and his third in a row.
Last season, he scored a career-high 92 points (36 goals and 56 assists) in 75 regular season games. He then added 25 points (five goals and 20 assists) in 20 playoff games en route to a Stanley Cup championship with the Avalanche.
Most of the discussion when it comes to the Avs is centered around MacKinnon and Cale Makar, and those two deserve all of the attention that they get, but it often becomes easy to overlook a player like Rantanen.
With 464 points in 451 career games, however, he is proving that he is impossible to ignore. The Colorado Avalanche are lucky to have Mikko Rantanen on the roster, and you can expect him to continue his great season and help guide the defending champs back to the playoffs.