The Avalanche made a bold move involving Mikko Rantanen—but was it a major misstep when it mattered most?
On today’s The Drive, Zach Bye and Phillip Lindsay break down the ripple effects of the trade and ask:
❌ Did Colorado give up too much scoring at the worst possible time?
📉 How has the team’s offensive chemistry changed without Mikko?
🧠 What was the front office thinking—and did they overestimate their depth?
🏒 Could this move haunt the Avs for years in the postseason?
The playoffs expose everything—and this decision might be the turning point.
📣 Was trading Mikko the wrong call? Let us know in the comments!
📲 Subscribe to The Drive for fearless takes on the Avs, Nuggets, Broncos and more from 104.3 The Fan.
#Avalanche #MikkoRantanen #NHLPlayoffs #AvsTrade #TheDrive #ZachBye #PhillipLindsay #StanleyCupPlayoffs #ColoradoAvalanche #1043TheFan
33 Comments
Neither know the game
Nhl biggiest secret that has not been revealed to audience is that Esa Lindell is the best PK defenceman in the League
shouldve paid him.
Stars fan here,from my understanding,when Mikko was at the 4 Nations tournament,thats when he realized he wanted to play with his boys and wanted to be in Dallas with 5 of his Finnish friends and wasnt going to resign in Carolina. Now why the AVs traded him or couldnt resign him is what i want to know. Go Stars and Thanks.
The months of low iq avs fans saying "mikko is overhyped and overpaid" is the best part about this
I will never understand why they let Rantanen go. He wanted to stay. They will grind that axe for a long time.
Too much mikko hype. Mikko was a non factor in carolina and dallas until the 3rd period of game 7. It was an avs collapse more than mikko.
Go Stars!
this will guy is insane
Your best players have to play their best when it matters the most.
Guys, here is what a melt down is: leading by 3 goals against the Canucks and have the Canucks pull their goalie and score three goals in the final minute of the game and then win it in overtime. That is a melt down. Very tough for a team to overcome that, especially to overcome it in the space of a month. The Avalanche will overcome this game and this series and they are still one of the best teams in hockey. Yes it hurts, but I would not give up on the team over it. Maybe the management blew it with the Mikko Rantanen trade, but if they did, I'm sure they will learn from it. At least Colorado is not going through what the Sabres or the Maple Leafs have been going through.
Gotta have faith. Landeskog is back and looking good.
MacFarland must go. Then hire Rob Blake for GM
Dallas Fan here… Lets be real. Dallas is the better team. Over the last couple of years this has been proven… in the standings and in the playoffs. However Colorado HAS a recent Stanley Cup, unlike Dallas. AND if you complain about anything it should be the crappy NHL matchup system. There is no way Colorado should be playing Dallas in the first round.
Its very funny because the moment the Mikko trade happened, I turned to my friend and said “Carolina wont be able to keep him long term”. Im neither an Avs or Canes fan but Carolina is known for being cheap and being unable to hold onto stars. So i guess let it be said that at least some people were aware that Mikko was still in play for trading
it would be stupid to change anything. this team really has only been together since january, they now have a lost series to dallas together. They have learned lessons together. Val likely will not drop out of another series. Just keep things the same and go again.
I'm a Stars fan through and through, but I doubted they could beat the Avs without Heiskenan. Colorado has to do some real soul searching, because they should not have lost that series.
Fire Chris MacFarland
Avs dealblunder with Mikko is going down as one of the biggest blunders in NHL history.
Regardless of who was doing it in Avs.
Bednar got out coached, and probably need to find a new coach
Does Colorado have a hockey hall ? S
The trade was a mistake. The avs will be searching for a Mikko to play with McKinnon the rest of his career. And they will never find one…..
GM is responsible for trade. Simple. If trade is fucked GM got fired.
Mikko 12 points 1st round
I believe this is exactly what Mikko needed to go to next level
Mikko passing is above average
IMO Mikko best quality is he makes players around him better
I believe that is why such a slow start in Dallas
Players aren’t expecting passes and can’t imagine pass coming from such a small window of opportunity
But those passes get thru and right on their tape of stick
This will accelerate young players growth like Bishel
Stars will be dominant and very strong for years to come because of this one trade
Personally can’t wait for Robo return you could see flashes of brilliance with Robo and 🫎
Until you're willing to tip your cap to the Stars and their resiliency, their depth and ability to over come the losses of Miro and Robo and to Peter DeBoer for pushing the right buttons and finding the right combinations and the right words to lift his team you wont ever get over this. It's NOT all about the Avs losing…..it's also about the Stars winning because they had a lot to do with the outcome of this series like it or not. They had the top penalty kill in the league over the course of the year and have had a top 3 PK for the last several years….they really work on that and it shows. Their PK and of course Otter had as much to do with the Avs failures on their PP as they did and that was the biggest factor in this series.
Nuke was better this time!
Dallas fan here who also has played hockey since 92 in Dallas. Avs were the better team. They out skated us and are just faster. Avs fans do need to give the stars goalie some credit though. Stars were chasing the puck every game and for some reason the Avs let them stay in it. Avs should have won. But Stars kept battling and won.
As a Stars and Mavs fan, I'm here for all this content. What is happening to the Avs right now at least begins to approximate how Mavs fans felt about the Luka trade. So its nice to know us Mavs have some company. Would also like to add, whoever is off-camera got annihilated in this argument. You simply can't go from we'll beat Dallas and can win the cup with this deep lineup, to 2 days later, fire the guy who put it together. Also, I think firing the PP guy was the "right" move if you were going to do anything…but even that is flawed as @jerepesonen8426 mentioned, the Stars PK led by Esa the Goal Suprresa is outstanding, so it might not have totally been Ray Bennett's fault. Honestly, the PK coach should be thanking Manson and LOC for getting the 2 shorties, or he would probably be gone as well.
BOTTOM LINE – if your opponents 2 best players are out for the series, and you still have not won the series by Game 7, you weren't going to do much in the playoffs this season anyway.
This just in game 1 vs the jets Rantanen gets another hat trick natrual this time lmao 🤣 thank you Colorado lmao 🤣 had yall paid him he wouldn’t have been traded to Carolina and then traded to Dallas lmao 🤣
Go stars lmao 🤣 😅
Avs are gone. All wanna leave
management fucked up. Seems like they didnt consult his agent or him directly. So they traded him to East and expected him to just sign with Carolina? He was about to be UFA right? So he had for the first time in his career, opportunity to decide HIMSELF where he gets to play and for how much. They fucked up because Mikko never wanted to play in Carolina.
Sakic put a knife on Mikkos back. Now that knife has been shoved sideways to Papa Joes rear end.