Do the Colorado Avalanche have the depth to survive without Mikko Rantanen?

The Colorado Avalanche will be without Mikko Rantanen for some time, but thanks to the work they did this offseason to acquire depth, they have the ability to survive his absence.

After a scorching hot 7-1-1 start, the Colorado Avalanche are going to have to find a way to maintain their pace without the services of their top scoring winger, Mikko Rantanen.

Colorado Avalanche star Rantanen has been listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury that was suffered in the second period of Monday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues. The injury was caused by a freak accident as Rantanen’s left skate twisted on a divot in the ice, turning his ankle almost entirely backwards. Rantanen was able to skate off the ice but did not return.

Warning: Graphic Injury

However despite the gruesome nature of the injury, the news is not all bad for Rantanen and the Avalanche. Head coach Jared Bednar says that this was the best case scenario and that he doesn’t expect the injury to be in the “four to six week range,” also adding that they hope he’ll be back before then but they will not rush anything.

After signing a new six-year, $55.5 million contract extension in September, Rantanen has been nothing short of phenomenal once again in the early portion of this season for the Avalanche. Through the first 12 games of the season, Rantanen has racked up 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in just nine games, tying him with Nathan MacKinnon for the team lead and sixth overall in the league.

The injury to Rantanen obviously leaves a hole on Colorado’s top line, so what can the Avalanche do in the mean time to replace Rantanen and keep up their hot start? Colorado already had to prepare for such a probability during the offseason in case Rantanen’s contract negotiations stretched out into the regular season, and the moves they made during that time will make life a lot easier to handle without their top line winger.

Depth was a prevalent issue for the Avalanche for all of last season, and they almost didn’t make the playoffs because of it. Even with their run to the second round, the organization knew that there was work to be done before they could take the next step towards Stanley Cup contention. Colorado went out and acquired talent like Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, and Joonas Donskoi in order to take that next step. Now as a result, they’ve built an entirely new second line that has worked wonders for them so far this season.

The Avalanche acquired Burakovsky from the Washington Capitals in late June for a second and third round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and so far everything has gone better than both sides could’ve hoped for. Burakovsky got the top-six role that he couldn’t get in Washington, and Colorado has gotten the talent that he had shown flashes of in the past. In nine games this season, Burakovsky has recorded four goals and four assists.

Donskoi was signed as a free agent last summer to a four-year contract, and he too has given the Avalanche a much needed boost on their second line. His two-way ability has been a valuable addition to Colorado, earning him spots on both the power play and penalty kill units. His three goals and three assists in the first nine games shows potential for the future as he gets more and more accustomed with the Avalanche system.

Even once you get passed the new second line, other additions like Valeri Nichushkin and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare still leave the Avalanche with the privilege to keep NHL caliber players in their bottom six instead of having to fill the gaps with call-ups from the minors.

While both Burakovsky and Donskoi can absolutely replace Rantanen on the top line, the Avalanche decided to go with bumping up J.T. Compher up from the third line to the first line, while leaving their newfound second line unscathed.

While on paper it might seem like an odd choice, it’s hard to argue with. Compher has played on the top line in the past and already has that experience with MacKinnon and Landeskog. Also, why break up that second line when it’s working so well? Having at least another line for teams to worry about will still leave enough space for MacKinnon and Landeskog to keep doing their things, and as long as Compher can keep up there shouldn’t be any issues.

Last year’s Avalanche would struggle whenever one of their stars went down with an injury, but thanks to the moves they made this offseason, they now have the talent to mitigate what would normally be a crisis. Losing Rantanen is not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world. The initial news on the injury seems to be good, and hopefully he’ll be back sooner than later.