Colorado Avalanche president Joe Sakic gave his first public explanation for the team’s controversial decision to trade Mikko Rantanen before the trade deadline.
Sakic cited salary cap limitations and a desire to improve roster depth as the driving forces behind the move.
The Avs president said so during his end-of-season media availability held on Wednesday, referring to the team’s salary commitments to Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Rantanen being unsustainable if kept together.
“Just paying three high-end guys and not having a surrounding cast wasn’t gonna get it done,” Sakic said.
Rantanen was traded to Carolina in January and later moved to the Dallas Stars in a subsequent trade. He has since signed an eight-year, $96 million deal with Dallas.
The Avalanche were unwilling to meet Rantanen’s ask of $13 million annually, countering with a final offer in the $11.6 million range, according to Nick Kypreos.
“You look at where we were in the last few years, we weren’t good enough. We weren’t deep enough,” Sakic said. “We won in ’22 because we had our stars, but we were also deep. And you can’t win the Stanley Cup without it. And status quo wasn’t good enough.”
The Avalanche acquired Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Jack Drury, and Charlie Coyle in return for Rantanen.
Those four combined for just 12 points during the seven-game loss to Dallas in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rantanen matched that total by himself in the first-round series and now leads the playoff field with 15 points in eight games.
“Listen, if you’ve got Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, your window’s open,” Sakic said. “And that’s why it’s important from the management side to when it comes to trade deadlines, you try and do what you can to give them the best opportunity.”
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