Colorado Avalanche Officially Replace Mikko Rantanen in Their Leadership Group
The Mikko Rantanen deal took place less than 24 hours ago, but already, the Colorado Avalanche have found the replacement to wear his 'A'.
The Colorado Avalanche have never been afraid of a big deal, and on Friday they made one of the biggest of all, moving star forward Mikko Rantanen to Carolina in exchange for forwards Martin Necas, Jack Drury and future draft picks.
While they've now got to figure out how to replace him and his production in their lineup, they also had to hand out the A that he wore in Colorado for years as one of the teams leaders.
Reportedly, that hasn't taken too long, as the team have now given that to star defenseman Devon Toews, who joins a leadership group that includes Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, with captain Gabriel Landeskog still sidelined with injury.
Given what Toews has become for this team, this move was a no-brainer, as he is already seen as a leader for this organization, and in the absence of Rantanen, he's going to be the perfect addition to the leadership group.
On the season thus far, Toews has six goals and 23 points in 47 games played while carrying a +18 differential alongside Cale Makar, but it's the intangibles that he brings to the table that make him one of the most important blue liners in the entire NHL.
With Landeskog's return to the team up in the air, the team need three leaders to carry the Avalanche forward, and while they may not be done making moves, the trio of MacKinnon, Makar and Tows make for the perfect leaders for a team that believe they are a genuine Stanley Cup threat once more in 2024/25 even after this move.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Gabriel Vilardi | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Cale Makar | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nicolas Roy | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Marcus Foligno | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Claude Giroux | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mark Scheifele | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Vincent Trocheck | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Martin Necas | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Reilly Smith | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason Appleton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Borgen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sam Carrick | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 49 | 33 | 11 | 5 | 71 | |
Jets | 50 | 33 | 14 | 3 | 69 | |
Oilers | 49 | 31 | 15 | 3 | 65 | |
Golden Knights | 49 | 30 | 15 | 4 | 64 | |
Hurricanes | 50 | 30 | 16 | 4 | 64 | |
Stars | 49 | 31 | 17 | 1 | 63 | |
Maple Leafs | 50 | 30 | 18 | 2 | 62 | |
Devils | 51 | 28 | 17 | 6 | 62 | |
Panthers | 50 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 61 | |
Wild | 49 | 28 | 17 | 4 | 60 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||