Avalanche Wrap: Rantanen Contract Talk, Landeskog Pushing To Return

DENVER – We’re getting closer and closer to the NHL season starting up. Avalanche players are starting to trickle into town and I’ll be headed to Family Sports this week to see what they’re up to. In the meantime, here are the most relevant stories to the Avalanche from the last week, and a look at what is coming at CHN.

SUNDAY

It’s PTO season. Here are four PTO’s that make sense for the Avalanche to take a look at, including a former top 10 pick in Filip Zadina.

He was videotaped later in the week skating at Family Sports and even said it’s not a matter of if anymore, but when. Is it time for everyone to get their hopes up? Gabriel Landeskog is targeting a return near the start of the season.

MONDAY

Elite Prospects came out with their list of the top 100 prospects in the NHL, and the Avalanche have a few representatives that made the cut this year.

TUESDAY

It obviously did not happen, but I felt like the Avalanche should have at least given the Predators a call to find out what it would cost to acquire Yaroslav Askarov.

It’s only the beginning of this battle, but the Flyers moved to terminate the contract of Ryan Johansen. It wasn’t a fit in Denver, and he never even suited up for a game with Philadelphia.

WEDNESDAY

We’ve heard reports that they’re close on a contract extension, or at least moving in the right direction, but according to Mikko Rantanen, it’s still early when it comes to extension talks.

THURSDAY

Do you believe what Sergey Fedotov is saying? According to him, Nathan MacKinnon calls Valeri Nichushkin at least once a week, and that the big winger will definitely be back with the Avalanche. It’s just one side, so take it with a grain of salt.

SATURDAY

It’s been a few years since the Avalanche had a representative at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase, but they’ll have one this year in Nikolai Kovalenko.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Apologies for the slower updates the past 10 days, as I’ve been traveling for various things. Getting it all out of the way before the season starts. Now it’s time to buckle down and prepare for the season.

• Heading to Family Sports to check out what players are in town
• Top 5 prospect countdown
• Ilya Nabokov highlight reel (+)
• Updated depth chart later today for August

I’ll be posting quite a bit of KHL highlights from the top prospects that the Avalanche have over in Russia, and a lot of them are likely to be for CHN+ members. If you’re looking to subscribe to get access to them, as well as an ad-free experience, you still can.