‘Shocking; It just sucks’: Avalanche’s MacKinnon reacts to Rantanen trade

The Colorado Avalanche sent shockwaves throughout the NHL Friday night, trading superstar forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes, as part of a three-team deal involving the Chicago Blackhawks. Needless to say, the last 24 hours have not been easy in Colorado.

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon spoke to reporters postgame after the Avs were defeated 3-1 by the Boston Bruins in their first game without Rantanen, and it’s obvious this trade was one MacKinnon never saw coming. “I never thought in a million years he would leave. So yeah, it just sucks,” stated MacKinnon. Rantanen played parts of 10 seasons in Colorado, winning a Stanley Cup in 2022.

The Avalanche received forwards Martin Necas, Jack Drury, along with a 2025 2nd-round pick and a 2026 4th-round pick in the deal. While Necas and Drury will certainly be key pieces moving forward for the Avalanche, it doesn’t help the sting MacKinnon’s feeling, losing one of his long-time teammates. “I called Mikko shortly after, we talked for close to 20 minutes. But yeah, I mean, it’s just unfortunate, losing a great friend, a great teammate, I’m going to miss him.”

MacKinnon admitted the trade was ‘shocking’. Rantanen is a pending unrestricted free agent, who the Avalanche wanted to re-sign, but once it became obvious to GM Chris MacFarland that the two sides weren’t going to be able to find common ground financially, it was the right time to make a trade. MacKinnon confirmed he had spoken with Rantanen about his contract extension throughout this season, but made it clear he didn’t want to interfere in other player’s business. “I’ve been asking him. It’s just tough, you don’t want to get in someone’s business. It’s just hard. Even when Gabe (Gabriel Landeskog) didn’t re-sign until the last hour, and he was up, so I just assumed it would be kind of the same thing, you know.”

The Avalanche now fall to 28-20-2 on the season, sitting comfortably in the first wild-card position in the Western Conference. Watch MacKinnon’s full postgame availability below: