Mikko Rantanen is in concussion protocol, Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar confirmed Sunday morning.
The early reports on Rantanen’s progress are positive though. Bednar said Rantanen worked out Saturday and skated on his own Sunday morning.
“He’s day-to-day, I would say,” Bednar said, as opposed to calling it week-to-week. “He’s already been on the ice, so yeah.”
Rantanen was injured in the second period Friday at Edmonton. Oilers defenseman Matthias Ekholm surprised him with a huge hit along the boards near the blue line as Rantanen was trying to help the Avs exit their zone. He wobbled as he tried to get up from the hit and a nearby official helped Rantanen get back to the bench before he went straight to the locker room.
Rantanen has played in 161 straight games, which was the longest active streak on the club. He has 40 goals and 102 points, currently tied for sixth in the NHL. He set career best last season in goals (55) and points (105).
“Anytime you lose one of your top guys, other guys have to step up,” Avs forward Ross Colton said. “It’s just kind of a next-man-up mentality. We’ve got some guys can move up and play a role and play well. It’s happened for us before.”
The first game Rantanen will miss is a huge showdown Sunday night with the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars. How soon he can return remains to be determined, but the Avs have potentially big matchups left against Winnipeg, Vegas and Edmonton in the final four games of the regular season as well.
Jonathan Drouin and Rantanen have flanked Nathan MacKinnon on Colorado’s top line and have been one of Bednar’s most trusted trios. They’ve played 473 minutes together at 5-on-5, and nearly 250 more on the top power-play unit.
“It sucks, for sure,” Drouin said. “You’ve got to find a way. There are injuries on every team. You’ve got to line ’em up and you’ve got to find ways to win the game.”
Rantanen isn’t the only new addition to Colorado’s injury report. Miles Wood left the game in Edmonton late in the third period and is out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. Bednar deemed his ailment as day-to-day.
The Avs thrived after the trade deadline because the front office infused depth into the lineup with four new players and Valeri Nichushkin returned from the NHL-NHLPA Player Assistance Program. That depth has been tested lately, with Nichushkin and Yakov Trenin missing games and now Rantanen and Wood joining the infirmary just as they exit it.
“When you’re playing top teams, you have to have depth,” Bednar said. “If you don’t, they’ll have more depth than you and they’ll win. It’s that simple. You have to have depth. We’ve got good depth. We just played a handful of games with two guys out and now we’ve got two new guys out.
“The key for us is getting healthy and getting everyone in, but certainly the depth is going to help.”
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