Mikko Rantanen can be a difference-maker for Stars – but it’s time to step up

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs didn’t go to plan for the Dallas Stars, falling 5-1 to the Colorado Avalanche, and it wasn’t a game Stars defenseman  Mikko Rantanen will remember fondly either. 

Facing his former team after recently signing an eight-year contract extension with the Stars, Rantanen was unable to live up to his star status to open the postseason, finishing with a -2 plus-minus rating, with three shots in a little over 18 minutes of ice time. 

Not getting top-impact from Rantanen no doubt harms the Stars’ hopes of making a playoff run, given that they are already missing defenseman Miro Heiskanen and left winger Jason Robertson. 

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli dove into how Rantanen could change the series if he’s able to elevate his game. 

Yaremchuk: Mikko Rantanen didn’t look like Mikko Rantanen, and that’s just another layer on this whole thing. For me, when it comes to the Dallas Stars, maybe you could survive one big injury to Robertson, and hopefully, you get Heiskanen back at some point. 

But if it’s layered with Mikko Rantanen and looking like he did over at like he did over at the Four Nations Face-Off, then again, there’s no star power, and you’re hooped if you’re Dallas. 

Seravalli: I agree. Things are just trending in the wrong direction at the wrong time for the stars, injuries, losses, and then I guess you would call them absences. Mikko Rantanen is there, but if you’re invisible, you’re not really contributing. 

I get that this has been a topsy-turvy season, and there are a lot of reasons why this has gone sideways, but you’ve signed your long-term extension here. This is home. Now is the time to put it all together. 

You can catch the rest of the segment and the full episode here…