Get to Know Mikko Rantanen
Date of Birth: October 29th, 1996 (18)
Place of Birth: Nousiainen, Finland
Ht: 6’4” Wt: 209 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Right Wing/Center
Team: TPS Turku
Mikko Rantanen is a large playmaking winger from Nousiainen, Finland, who finished the season as Central Scouting Services top ranked European skater. Rantanen is the consensus top European player available in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, and a candidate for a top ten selection. In his draft year Rantanen played for the Finnish national team at World Junior Championships and played a major role on his TPS team in the Finnish Elite League, even serving as an alternate captain for part of the season.
Statistics
What Scouts See
Future Considerations:
The big Finn has elite skills and has the size and strength to be an absolute force. He was creating all kinds of chances late in the game but couldn’t seem to bury it. He is a hardworking forward who uses his body to shield the puck away from defenders and will be effective playing that style at the NHL level.
An exceptionally talented playmaker and always a consistent threat on the ice; Rantanen is a combination of elite-level hockey sense, silky smooth hands, and nimble skating. Needs to improve his shot and physical play, as he doesn’t take advantage of his size in many situations. All-in-all, an intelligent, big-bodied forward that oozes skill.
Goran Stubb, NHL Director of European Scouting
He’s a big, strong, mature, mobile two-way power forward who protects the puck very well, has a great reach and is very strong in battles along the boards and in the corners,” [. . .]”He’s very close to being the complete package.
What BSN Avalanche sees
Rantanen is extremely committed to his game in all three zones of the ice and has a great sense for the mechanics of the game. In particular, Rantanen is a relentless forechecker, and while he doesn’t often lay big open ice checks in the offensive zone, he does use his size well to pressure defensemen while his long reach cuts off passing lanes.
Rantanen’s wrist shot is heavy and accurate, even if he doesn’t release as quickly as the other forwards available at the top of the draft. His real offensive strength, however, comes from his stick handling. Rantanen holds onto the puck extremely well and uses his long stick and big shoulders to protect the puck from checkers. He has a great nose for the net, and when he posts up in the crease he’s extremely difficult to move.
Although Rantanen certainly has the build to become an NHL power forward, he’ll need to learn how to use his frame more effectively in the corners if he wants to physically overpower experienced NHL players. For a player whose size is such a big part of his appeal, it’s a little disconcerting that Rantanen doesn’t engage physically more often.
He’ll need to learn to play up to his size if he’s going to be a success in the NHL, but his hands and instincts are certainly intriguing. Rantanen is an awkward skater and he’ll have to refine his stride to be successful in the much faster NHL on smaller ice.
NHL Potential
Rantanen’s size, exceptional hands, and offensive instincts give him a ceiling in an NHL team’s top six forwards, but he’ll need to improve his physical and defensive game in order to reach that goal or play in a checking role in the NHL. Rantanen projects more as a big creative playmaker like kinsman Aleksander Barkov than he does as a goal scorer.
Expected Draft Position
Mikko Rantanen should be drafted in the top half of the first round. With his rare combination of size and skill, it’s likely that the Finnish winger will be drafted inside the Top 10.
How Prospect Fits in Avalanche Organization
Mikko Rantanen would fill a major void in an Avalanche organization thin on offensive prospects. The Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy regime publicly places a lot of value on size, and the 6’4” Rantanen certainly fits the bill. If Rantanen develops well, the Avalanche will hope that he can provide depth on the wing and eventually replace the aging Alex Tanguay or Jarome Iginla.
Rantanen is just one of many power wingers available at the top of the draft. For a look at the others, check out these prospect profiles:
Lawson Crouse
Pavel Zacha
Timo Meier
Evgeny Svechnikov
1 Comment
Dario
OK, I still think there’s a big risk with the small sample size of NA ice for Rantanen and my observations of him are of course a small sample. Youtube highlights and even full WJ games are almost an irresponsible level of eval for a guy.
But here is what my eyes see (again, in a small sample); First, I’ll oversell this hard and say his play style seems very familiar. So I’ve the guy I thought of was outlandish but the name is Jaromir Jager. Look at Rantanen and go take a gander at https://youtu.be/hxGOSyFQets.
Like Jager he uses a wide skating base in to traffic and while some would criticize his skating, I’m very impressed with his edge work. He looks lumbering on the ice in certain strides but he’s in total control of his edges. See this edge work here, https://youtu.be/5LNfZ5ZOh3s?t=1m43s
He likes to cut in to the middle and uses a narrow grip on his stick which combined with his size gives him some very long stick handling reach. He doesn’t readjust his grip on shots but instead uses a quick snap to release the puck which is the modern NHL M.O..
His most impressive asset at just 18 years old is his patience with the puck. He is not an Iginla or McGinn kind of winger that’s going to rush the puck and possess it for only a stride. He’s what modern NHL analytics love in that he controls the puck and possesses it for moves, passes or letting plays set up. While he doesn’t use his bigger body in the same way Landeskog would, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t use it. He simply uses it in a manner to shield off defenders (again very much like Jagr or even Jeff Carter). But there’s a lot about his style as a winger that reminds me of Landeskog.
Last, and this is very subjective, but I like his demeanor on the ice. If he has a close miss he doesn’t look at the sky or stop skating. He recovers and pursues the play. When he scores or sets up a score he doesn’t go flying in to the glass, he looks to teammates to celebrate. He seems very level headed for his age.
Everything about him oozes modern NHL skill set. There are some defensive awareness things I saw that were typical of young players. There were also a couple of times I saw D men pinch past him that he didn’t cover for (this could be systems based and not awareness). But I really do think he’s a quality risk at 10.