The Colorado Avalanche have signed their big-time restricted free agent to a long-term deal on a Saturday, inking Mikko Rantanen to a six-year, $9.25 million per season contract extension.
His signing is not surprising because Rantanen really wanted to stay in Colorado. So, really, his signing was a matter of when not if. However, things looked a bit rocky when reports emerged that the team and the player weren’t close on a new deal.
It’s not that the Avalanche didn’t have a ton of cap space; instead, there was some concern that the optics would not be good if they paid Rantanen a much higher salary per season than the team was paying Nathan McKinnon.
Ultimately, the Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic chose to bite the bullet and make Rantanen the highest-paid player on the team, and by a substantial margin. McKinnon is signed through the 2022-23 season, so there will be a discrepancy in the team’s salary structure.
Elliotte Friedman reported the deal was close to being completed; and, he was right. The signing was confirmed minutes later by a few sources.
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet had also reported yesterday, “Unsigned RFA Mikko Rantanen is also on his way back to Helsinki after skating with SC Bern, and there’s belief he and the #avs are making progress on an extension.”
Obviously, things changed in a hurry.
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