When the Colorado Avalanche shocked the hockey world by trading star right winger Mikko Rantanen at the end of January, the biggest reason why the Avs sent him to Carolina was uncertainty about Rantanen's contractual future. The 28-year-old was scheduled to be a UFA at the end of the current season, and Avs GM Chris MacFarland and president of hockey operations Joe Sakic made the cold-blooded decision to cut ties with him, given their expectation they wouldn't be able to fit Rantanen into their team salary structure.
It's been a handful of weeks later, and you know what? The Avalanche have been proven to be right in their assessment of the Ranatanen contract situation. The Hurricanes have been unable to get Rantanen's signature on a contract extension, and with less than 24 hours until the NHL's trade deadline, rumors abound that Rantanen could be dealt for the second time in the same season.
That would've been astonishing if you'd said this past summer that such a scenario was possible -- and really, it still is. But even in a salary cap world where the cap ceiling is going to rise considerably in the next three years, a Rantanen extension that could come in around $14-million over eight seasons is probably too rich for many teams.
Now, Carolina has to gamble that either they can get Rantanen to agree to an extension by the end of the summer, or they have to cut bait with him and do their best to secure as many assets as they gave up to Colorado to get him. And that just confirms the Avs made the right decision, as painful as it had to be to get rid of a popular player and a Stanley Cup winner.
Even if the Avalanche don't make another move by the deadline, they've now got the type of cap flexibility that will allow them to be big players in free-agency this off-season. And as is true in the cut-throat world of professional yoga, flexibility matters. Picking up an above-average player in Martin Necas helped soften the blow of losing Rantanen, but when Colorado picks up another star forward down the line, it will be because MacFarland had the stones to do what many of his colleagues wouldn't do by trading Rantanen.
Time will tell how the Avs' roster situation plays out in the next year or so, but as the trade deadline looms, Avalanche fans should be pleased as punch that Colorado made the difficult decision to part ways with Rantanen. Avs management is paid to make tough choices serve the team's bottom line, and you can no longer deny that Sakic and MacFarland did what was best for the organization by dealing a star performer. Rantanen was a key component of their on-ice success in recent years, but the cap system forces teams to make high-stakes decisions, and trading Rantanen was the right one.
It would've been easy for Colorado to pull punches and bet on Rantanen accepting a salary that wouldn't pay him more than superstar Nathan MacKinnon. But although it didn't sit well with some Avalanche fans to see a fan favorite sent packing, dealing Rantanen was absolutely necessary. And the Avs are going to be better for it.