From January to March, Mikko Rantanen spent one of the wildest periods of his NHL career. The 28-year-old forward was first traded to Carolina after having played for Colorado for a decade. Then, with the Hurricanes being unable to match his salary demands, Rantanen was sent off to Dallas. But his former coach just couldn’t stop remembering the Finnish star’s knack for finding the back of the net. But that feeling seems to be something Jared Bednar has overcome.

On Saturday, the Avalanche will be locking horns with the Dallas Stars for their third match of the season. Naturally, a little trash talk should be in order, and Bednar didn’t disappoint. On Friday, after the team’s practice, the Colorado coach sat in front of reporters to talk about his feelings about the imminent meet-up with his former poster boy, Mikko Rantanen.

When asked how long it would take for Bednar and the Avalanche to overcome Rantanen’s absence from the locker room, the former flatly reminded everyone how the Finnish hockey sensation’s helping the Stars eliminate Colorado from the playoffs last season made things easier for everyone. “Once you play him in a playoff series, for me, it’s like you’re business focused and that’s it,” Bednar said with a sort of nonchalance that just might be hard for Rantanen to watch. 

“He’s gone, he’s gone. For me, it took me about ten minutes. Not that I don’t like Mikko, but I’m not dwelling in the past on any of that kind of stuff. You have to move forward and move forward quickly,” Bednar added to his statement further. Old grapes hitting the sour spot, some fans might argue.

“He’s a pure goal-scorer,” the Colorado Avalanche head coach said in May about how Mikko Rantanen’s presence made all the difference in Game 7 of the Colorado vs Dallas Round 1 series last season. In the series-deciding match, Mikko Rantanen scored thrice, making history and quite possibly turning many of his former fans into passionate haters.

However, the 2025-26 season is underway, and Bednar’s boys are currently sitting on a 2-0-0 record. Maybe that’s also helping the Colorado boss forget how much Rantanen meant to him and the team. But while it remains to be seen whether the Avalanche’s nerves give out or not against the Stars this time around, it does seem like Mikko is settling well into his new shoes.

Mikko Rantanen just might remind his former coach who he is

In January, when Rantanen left for Carolina, he was already among the leading scorers in the NHL in the 2024-25 season (64 points in 49 games). Obviously, the Hurricanes felt like they were making a massive profit at the Avalanche’s expense. “He’s a fantastic fit for the way we play. We play a system that has us battling for pucks along the walls and trying to make plays at the net front, and he’s just one of the best in the League at some of those things.”

“A lot of the identity of our team right now come from the way Jordan [Staal] plays and sort of carries plays with his heaviness and his strength, and Mikko can do all of that, but with really high-level skill to go with it. So, I don’t think there’s any question that he’s going to be a tremendous fit on the ice and I’ve heard nothing but good things about him off the ice,” said Eric Tulsky, the Carolina Hurricanes’ GM, following the trade.

Unfortunately for Tulsky, even the Canes couldn’t round off the sharp edges of the Mikko Rantanen deal. The Stars showed up at an opportune moment, and the Finnish national was headed the Stars’ way before playing for only 13 games (2 goals, 4 assists) with Carolina. “The chance to acquire and extend one of the best forwards in the NHL is an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up,” the Stars’ general manager Jim Nill straight up confessed. Thanks to the forward’s incredible 18-point-hauling run in 20 games (22 points in 18 postseason games), the Stars reached the third round of the Western Conference before losing the series to the Oilers.

Even Nazem Kadri, Rantanen’s former teammate, who won the 2022 Stanley Cup together with Colorado, didn’t miss the opportunity to throw a dig at their former club. But it seems like Bednar isn’t one to carry the memories of one season into the next. Do you think it’ll be Mikko’s honor to refresh Bedar’s sinking feelings from the last postseason when the two Central Division heavyweights meet tomorrow at the Ball Arena? Share your predictions for the match below!