In the end of January, the forward star was traded from Colorado to Carolina, but there he only played 13 matches before being traded to Dallas.
Now he returned for the first time to his former home arena for a meeting with the club he won the Stanley Cup with in 2022.
I wanted to stay in Colorado. That was the plan and that's what I told the management. But better players than me have been traded in NHL's history. That's just the way it is. It's part of the "business", says Mikko Rantanen, who has signed an eight-year contract with Dallas worth over 970 million kronor.
On Saturday – the day before the match – he had dinner with some of his former teammates.
We had to fight to get him to pay the bill, says Colorado player Cale Makar and laughs.
It's always nice to meet Mikko. He's a fantastic person. We all love him and I know he loves us too, says the Canadian.
It was just Cale Makar who made sure Rantanen left Colorado as a loser on the ice. Only 34 seconds into overtime, he scored the winning goal to 4–3.
