The Elephant in the Room

All right, now. I've read all of the opinions from fellow Avs fans, from overall NHL fans, and from others as well. Now it's time for me to borrow from the playbook of current WWE Champion Cody Rhodes... and talk about it.

So let's address it. Mikko Rantanen. A decade with the Avs. So many good memories. Clutch goals. A lot of Hat Tricks, and of course, the Stanley Cup. We traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes in January, and this was after Rantanen wanted to be paid like Nathan MacKinnon and Leon Draisaitl. The story was he wanted $14M/yr. That didn't happen. We traded him. Rantanen was miserable, according to him. The play with Carolina was lethargic, but we were all led to believe that he would at least be a rental for this year's playoffs. Yeah, Carolina didn't want to waste any more time.

So Rantanen was traded to the Dallas Stars on March 7, and in this case, it's a sign and trade. Rantanen signed an 8 year deal worth $96 million to stay in Dallas. Here's where the questions are asked. The Avs offered him an $11.75M/year deal for 8 years. Moose said no to that. He gets dealt to Carolina, who deals him to Dallas, and then, Moose signs a $12M/year deal for 8 years. So not only does he sign for less than what he wanted, he takes barely more than our offer to stay with a rival. That tells me that Rantanen was willing to take less for what he wanted just to fuck with the Avs. Yet Rantanen's claim was that he wanted to stay and was willing to take a team friendly deal to do so. We offered him one. He said no.

Despite this, any ill will I may feel towards Rantanen is only because of the jersey he's wearing. That's it. I'm still grateful to the Moose for everything he's done for us, and while he was a very valuable player for the Avs, we have shown that we can still be a force. The business at hand was this home game against the Stars, and this is a big four-point game. A huge shift could happen one way or the other, especially since this game is a likely first round preview.

Scott Wedgewood was in net against Jake Oettinger, and the Avs received a power play very early. That was killed off, but after that PP, the Avs were up 5-0 in shots. Then Dallas' very first shot of the game goes in. Jason Robertson makes it 1-0, and one of the assists? Mikko Rantanen. Of course it's Rantanen. So the Avs are down one, and after the first major TV timeout, Rantanen received a video tribute thanking him for his contributions with the Avs, and the reaction was mixed, it was mostly positive. Avs continued leading in shots, and received another PP--a double minor. While the first of the two consecutive PPs was killed off, the second wasn't. Martin Necas tied it up, deflecting a shot from Cale Makar.

It was 1-1 after 20, despite the Avs outshooting Dallas 17-4. The 2nd period saw Colorado still dominate in shots, but Dallas still had some close calls. The Avs managed to take the lead later on, and it was red hot Valeri Nichushkin with the goal to make it 2-1! We weren't done, as Jonathan Drouin made it 3-1 late in the second period! Avs had a late PP that spanned into the third period. Killed off, but it looked like we'd win this bad boy in regulation, even after another Avs PP was knocked off. Then, with under six minutes left, after Wedgewood loses his stick making all sorts of impossible saves, one gets past him, and it's Mavrik Bourque. OK, so they get one. We can still hold on and hope to get an empty netter. But right after that thought enters my mind, the game ends up tied. And guess who, folks? Matt Duchene. Because of course it is.

In a span of 20 seconds, Dallas ties it up. I found myself hoping for us to win this in regulation. We did have a good chance in the final minute, but no go, and we get overtime. So now it's a three point game. Stars have the puck in OT but go offsides. Brock Nelson wins the face-off and the puck goes to Makar. It's passed to MacKinnon, and then back to Makar, and the eventual Norris winner does the rest! 34 seconds is all it took, and the Avs get the big win!

Cale Douglas Makar is the greatest defenseman in this league today. Notice that when I say that to people who know I'm an Avs fan, I never get accused of being biased? That's because they know. Makar's peers know. Talking heads know. Another three point performance from Makar: assist in the 1st, assist in the 2nd, and the OT GWG. He has 78 points so far with barely over a month left. The Avs have 14 games left. Makar should finish with 90 points, but could he actually end up with 100?! 22 points in 14 games is very possible, and Makar's capable of having many multi-point games. Makar's name should be on the Norris for the second time, but if he gets to 100 or very close to it, could Makar be up for Hart consideration, too?

I would have definitely loved a regulation win, but at least we won, and the Avs are now two points behind Dallas in the standings. We are done with the Stars in the regular season, and we won the season series in that regard. Next up, the Avs head to Eastern Canada for three games. First, we go to Toronto (Wednesday on TNT), then Ottawa (Thursday), and finally in Montréal (Saturday). Since the Avs do not play on my birthday on Tuesday, this win is an early birthday present for this Avs fan, and Cale's goal was the bow.

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