Burgundy and Blue: Avs poised to drop puck on 2019-’20 season

Hockey is back at elevation starting on Thursday, as the Colorado Avalanche drop the puck on their 2019-’20 campaign with the Calgary Flames at Pepsi Center.

The Avs head into the regular season coming off the buzz of wrapping up all-star forward Mikko Rantanen long term and a bevy of national praise.

However, whether anyone in Denver will be able to watch their hometown hockey team outside the arena is still uncertain.

***

Rantanen’s return

Perhaps the biggest storyline of the Avalanche offseason wrapped up nicely right before the start of the 2019-’20 season on Saturday.

Colorado and all-star right winger Mikko Rantanen agreed to a six-year, $55.5 million deal on Saturday and the budding 22-year-old made his practice debute on Monday.

“It feels great. I have been waiting for this pretty much since training camp started,” Rantanen said of his return on Monday. “I know the negotiation, it is all business, but I am really happy to be here.”

An all-star a year ago, Rantanen posted career highs in goals (31), assists (56) and points (87) during the 2018-’19 campaign.

***

National buzz

Grab some shades. The future looks bright for the Avs.

Per ESPN.com’s panel of experts (Emily Kaplan, Chris Peters and Greg Wyshynski), Colorado is set up to be the next powerhouse in the NHL.

The Avalanche ranked No. 1 in the future power rankings, much in part to the team’s youth — and affordability.

Per Kaplan: “They are loaded enough to win now, and their best players are young and cheap; case in point is Nathan MacKinnon, a top-three player in the league, playing on a ridiculous bargain at $6.3 million through 2023. Eventually, these guys will need new contracts, and that will test GM Joe Sakic’s discipline.

Colorado edged out the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by the Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.

On the player level, Nathan MacKinnon earned high marks from both NHL.com and ESPN.com, ranking among the top five players in the NHL according to each site.

NHL.com ranks MacKinnon — the Hart Trophy runner up in 2017-’18 who set career highs in goals (41), points (99) and power-play points (37) last season — as the fourth best player in the league while ESPN.com has him at No. 3.

***

Watchability

The Avs also grade highly on ESPN.com’s “Watchability” list for the 2019-’20 season, citing MacKinnon as “worth the price of admission all by himself” among the critera for the team’s No. 4 ranking.

However, fans in the Denver metro area might find it difficult to actually watch the Avalanche this season, at least early on.

The carriage rights between the team’s flagship television partner — Altitude Sports — and the “Big Three” distributors — Comcast, DirecTV, and DISH Network — expired earlier this month, and the dispute likely won’t be resolved before Thursday’s season opener.

Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan Avalanche Insider Adrian Dater spoke with an Altitude executive last week who said he wouldn’t give a percentage on the likelihood of broadcasting by Oct. 3, but that the “conversations change every day.

Last month, Jim Martin, president and chief executive officer of Altitude’s parent company, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, said:

“That Altitude’s three major distributors would each reject Altitude’s fair offer, and in unison insist instead that Altitude accept terms that would render the telecast of local professional sports completely nonviable, is more than disappointing and is a disservice to the community.

“The upcoming Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche seasons are each among the most highly anticipated in both teams’ history. For these distributors to collectively seek to deprive our fans the opportunity to watch their home teams is inexcusable and disheartening.”

And in a statement to 104.3 The Fan last month, Comcast said:

“We want to reach an agreement with Altitude, but it must be at a reasonable price for our customers. Altitude has demanded significant annual price increases for the same content for years, which has driven up costs for all of our customers in Colorado and Utah, even though most of them do not watch the channel.

“Over the past year, more than 95 percent of Altitude subscribers watched less than the equivalent of a game per week. The price increase Altitude is again demanding is unacceptable given the network’s low viewership. We have submitted a proposal to Altitude that we believe reflects the value of its programming and are hopeful Altitude will accept it so we can continue to carry the network for those customers who want to watch it.”