|
Rantanen's agent: "Not close to a deal"; Byram, Timmins get mixed reviews |
|
|
Rick Sadowski
 Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
|
|
|
It looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi and perhaps Valeri Nichushkin on the Avalanche’s top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog in the preseason, at least for the foreseeable future.
Restricted free agent Mikko Rantanen remains without a contract and his agent, Mike Liut, said the sides aren’t close to an agreement.
Liut, who also represents unsigned Winnipeg forward Patrik Laine, told TSN 650: “We're not close ... they're high profile guys. There's nothing happened that we didn't know was going to happen. Nothing has gone on that we didn't anticipate.
“There's term, there's AAV (average annual value), there's structure, and clubs have to manage their (salary) cap, we have to represent our client," Liut said. "We have our convictions, they have theirs.”
Rantanen, 22, had an NHL career-high 87 points (31 goals, 56 assists) in 74 games last season. He missed the final eight regular-season games with an upper-body injury, but he returned for the playoffs and had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 12 games.
Laine, 21, had 50 points (30 goals, 20 assists) in 82 games.
Liut compared Rantanen’s play with Toronto’s Mitchell Marner, who was a restricted free agent and signed a six-year, $65.358 million contract (AAV $10.893 million) on Friday. He had 94 points (26 goals, 68 assists) last season.
"I think Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are probably the two closest comparables in terms of how they play their game, where you have wingers who are adept at creating offense for those that they are playing with,” Liut told the station.
Rantanen and Laine were training with SC Bern in Switzerland, according to NHL.com.
Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic hasn’t commented recently, but coach Jared Bednar said he can’t concern himself with Rantanen’s absence while getting the team ready for the Oct. 3 season opener against Calgary.
“Obviously he’s a great player and I’d like to have him here, but he’s got some negotiations to go through, as do we,” Bednar said Tuesday night after the Avalanche kicked off a six-game preseason schedule with a 5-0 loss to Vegas at the Pepsi Center. “I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t thought a lot about Mikko Rantanen since camp started. I can’t, I don’t have the time.
“I’ve got to worry about the guys that we have here and some decisions that we have to make, who’s the best option to play on that line and the power play and all the situations that a guy like Mikko plays for us.
“I’m focused on watching these guys as close as I possibly can and gathering information from Joe’s staff, the coaching staff, and getting everyone’s opinion in case I’m missing something, what we’re going to have to do if he doesn’t get here, we’re going to have to play without him and I’m focusing on the guys in our room.”
*****
The Avalanche and Golden Knights loaded their lineups with prospects Tuesday.
Rookie defensemen Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins got mixed reviews from Bednar.
“Real slow start,” he said. “I thought our team had a slow start, but those guys were not good in the first period. I thought they got a lot better in the second. The third was just kind of so-so. I did think that Timmins in particular got better as the game went on.”
Byram, the No. 4 pick in the 2019 draft, was paired for most of the game with Mark Barberio. Byram played a game-high 24:50, had one shot and was minus-2. He inadvertently poked the puck into his own net at 4:08 of the first period while battling for position with Valentin Zykov as they skated to the net. Zykov was credited with the goal.
“I’ve just got to take the positives and negatives away from this game and just move on to the next (one) and just keep trying to get better every day,” Byram said. “I felt like I did a decent job, but obviously coming away 5-0, it’s not what you want, so I’ve just got to learn from it.”
Timmins, who turned 21 Wednesday, played his first NHL game after missing 18 months to recover from concussion issues (he played two games in the rookie tournament in California). He logged 19:10 while paired mostly with Ryan Graves. He was even and had two shots on goal.
“I was just kind of trying to shake off the rust and get used to the pace and make good decisions,” said Timmins, a second-round pick (No. 32) in 2017. “I thought I struggled a bit at the beginning of the first, but as the game went on I thought I got better with it. Myself and the team had a really good second. The third was just a couple bad bounces.
“It felt good. I’ve said this a bunch of times, I just love being out there. To be on a big stage like that with all the great fans who attended, it was a good feeling.”
*****
The Avalanche made four roster moves after the game.
Defenseman Sasha Larocque was assigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) and three players were returned to their junior teams -- right wing Alex Beaucage to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL), center/right wing Luka Burzan to the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL), and right wing Sasha Mutala to the Tri-City Americans (WHL).
Join the Discussion:
»