Avalanche season grades: Mikko Rantanen

Let’s give the season report card to Mikko Rantanen, shall we? My personal grade will be at the end, with an analysis of his fine season:

Overview

First off, those analytics-numbers/based grades for the happy-go-lucky Finn are, yeah, a little harsh. I mean, the  Marquis De Sade might like it, but it’s a bit harsh. While Rantanen isn’t perfect by any stretch, the fact is he had an excellent season.

Twenty nine goals and 55 assists? That works. Especially for someone who is still only just 21 years old. Other than a late-season swoon, just like the ones by linemates Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, Rantanen was a consistent scorer throughout.

He’s big (6-4, 211), has an excellent shot and has that extra second of patience with the puck that can’t be taught. He’s not the most graceful skater on the planet, but he gets up and down the ice well enough and plays with toughness despite not being an overly physical player. He’s a fine passer, as his high assist total makes clear. I’ve said this before, but I think Rantanen could use a bit of fine-tuning with his conditioning. I think he’s still growing into his body some, being so young, but he could probably stand to lose a little more body fat. Maybe that would make him a bit quicker and better at the end of games. Sometimes, he’ll look a little too gassed out there. He’s probably never going to win a Selke Trophy, but he doesn’t loaf it defensively.

But, wow, the present already is very good for Rantanen, and the future seems even brighter. He should be a fixture on the right side with Nathan MacKinnon for several years at least. He’s a fun guy to talk to, mostly always in a good mood and popular in the dressing room.

His longest point drought all season was just three games (March 24-28). That’s real consistency. He did not score any goals in the six playoff games, however. That was disappointing, but he still had four assists.

Biggest Moment

On March 15 in St. Louis, Rantanen scored two goals and assisted on two others in a 4-1 Avs win over the Blues. He was a plus-4. So, yeah, pretty nice night for Rants there. That was a very big win for the Avs in their successful drive to the postseason.

What’s Next

Rantanen has one year remaining on his entry-level contract, which will pay $894,167. He figures to get a significant pay increase on his next contract, whenever that is signed. An extension before the deal is through seems likely, but either way, he’s not going anywhere for quite a while.

Final Grade

A-

Rantanen had a tremendous season, worthy of ‘A’ territory. I mean, he had 84 points. He definitely could work on being a bit more well-rounded of a player, but with his size, skill and youth, he should be a big-time point producer for a lot of years.