Avalanche fans give Mikko Rantanen a mixed reaction in return to Ball Arena

Former Colorado Avalanche superstar Mikko Rantanen made his return to Ball Arena on Sunday afternoon.

And with the odd site of Rantanen wearing a Dallas Stars sweater, he received a mixed reaction from Avs fans during the first TV timeout of the game.

After a tribute video, Rantanen acknowledged the crowd and appeared a bit emotional. There were certainly some boos, but a lot of cheers as well and most of the crowd was standing by the end. You can watch the full moment below.

A mixed reaction for former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen during his tribute video here at Ball Arena. Definitely some boos, definitely a ton of cheers and most of the crowd gives him a standing ovation at the end. Definitely worth watching the whole thing. pic.twitter.com/ySnIAhT28n

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) March 16, 2025

Rantanen is on his third team in the last two months, after Colorado traded him to Carolina in late January and he played just 13 games with the Hurricanes. They flipped him to the Stars just before the NHL trade deadline, afraid Rantanen would walk away this summer as a free agent for nothing. Rantanen signed an eight-year contract extension with Dallas worth $12 million a season.

Rantanen also met with a handful of local media members on Saturday, maintaining he always wanted to stay with the Avalanche. He claims he even went to management wanting to work with them on an extension, and then Avs GM Chris MacFarland traded him shortly after.

“Six weeks before the deadline, we were still negotiating at that point and I felt at that time I needed to go talk to front office, which I did, face to face. I told them I’ll be flexible and I want to play here for a long time. And then a couple days later, they traded me. So, that was obviously very emotional,” Mikko Rantanen said on Saturday.

The 2022 Stanley Cup champion with Colorado has always been firm that Denver was where he wanted to be, but MacFarland also didn’t want to see Rantanen leave for nothing and turned him into Martin Necas and Jack Drury from Carolina.

That’s just one of nine trades MacFarland made this season, as the Avalanche pursue their second championship in four years.

Mikko Rantanen was part of the last one, but he won’t be part of this one, if it happens.

That doesn’t mean some Colorado fans still don’t have love for him, even with a smattering of boos also clearly audible as the team acknowledged all of his accomplishments.

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