Rantanen is about to be in the eye of the storm.
Good thing he’s a pretty calm guy.
Rantanen played parts of 10 seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and is sixth all-time in goals scored for the organization, but he was traded twice this season and now will face his old buddies in the First Round of the playoffs. That’s a heavy assignment, but Rantanen said he’s taking it in stride.
“It’s Dallas against Colorado and I’m part of Dallas. So that’s how I look at it,” Rantanen said on Friday.
His teammates have his back on that. Rantanen played at Colorado in March, so he got his first game against his old home crowd out of the way. Likewise, he spent 13 games in Carolina before playing the last 20 with Dallas, so he has some separation.
“It’s business,” Rantanen said. “The trade didn’t happen two days ago, it’s been a while since I played with the Avs. I think it’s all behind us now. I’m a part of a new team now and it’s time to execute.”
Rantanen will be a big part of what the Stars can do in the First Round. In addition to signing an eight-year contract extension at $12 million per season, making him Dallas’s highest-paid player going forward, he also now leads the team in scoring with 88 points in 82 games for three different teams this season. And that’s not all. Rantanen enters Game 1 with 101 points in 81 career playoff games. That’s a points per game average of 1.25, which is tied for fourth all-time in NHL history (min. 80 games) and second among active players.
“His numbers are fantastic,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “That’s what we got him for. I think his game is built for the playoffs. He’s a big body, he hangs onto the puck, he’s hard to play against, he goes to the dirty areas. I think we’re going to need all of those things.”
Rantanen has been playing on a very successful offensive team in Colorado, and that has helped him build that resume. Former linemate Nathan MacKinnon ranks third all-time on the points per game list, so that helps to explain a few things. Rantanen has a bit of a different role with the Stars, as he’s playing about two fewer minutes a game and is moving around the lineup, but DeBoer said he expects him to find ways to score.
“He’s a team guy, he wants to win,” DeBoer said. “He doesn’t cheat the game, he works away from the puck. You can see why he’s won a Stanley Cup.”
Rantanen becomes just the second player on the Stars roster who has won a Cup (Tyler Seguin is the other, doing so at age 19), so his leadership will also be important.
“You see how hard he trains and obviously the talent that’s there,” Seguin said of Rantanen’s leadership. “It’s just about being a good pro, which Mikko is. Individually, you have to work on your craft, work on your body and your training and your nutrition, Mikko is at the head of the snake with that for sure.”
All eyes will be on Rantanen for a lot of reasons in the First Round, but maybe the most fun he believes is because now it’s time for the playoffs.
“It’s exciting times,” he said. “The regular season is finally over. It’s a long grind always. That’s what the regular season is for, to get ready for these games. It starts from zero now.”
