Here is the link to the original Finnish article for those who can read Finnish:
Isoin huomio Laineessa – Mikko Rantanen nakuttelee hurjia tehoja kaikessa rauhassa: "Se on ihan hyvä juttu"
And here is the translated article that I was promising:
Mikko Rantanen whom won last season the scoring race for all the Finnish NHL players and was piling up wild numbers for the season, has been preparing for the new NHL season in Turku, in the same training group with Patrik Laine amongst others. Both, Rantanen and his team Colorado Avalanche have a big season ahead of them.
Rantanen, whom was flying on the ice for the Lions last spring in the WHC tournament held in Denmark, has been able to prepare for the new season while being healthy.
Rantanen has been taking part in the training group lead by the training guru Hannu Rautala. Rautala’s name has been appearing also when talking about Patrik Laine, as Laine has been also training under the guidance of Rautala.
Rantanen explained that his own summer training has now had a one clear area that has been emphasized.
- A lot of the same things as before, but maybe also a bit more emphasis on speed, Rantanen explains to MTV Sport.
- It is after all one of the areas where I can still take clear steps forward. We have been looking for more explosiveness. Let’s hope that it will be helping me.
The same kind of elements have been also brought in the summer training for Laine. The Jets forward has been trying to get more of that explosiveness that Rantanen was mentioning.
So which one of you is now more explosive then?
- On the basis of the radar it is me! Rantanen laughs.
- Pate has clearly advanced a lot. His effort has looked good both on the off-ice practices as well as on the ice, Rantanen gives some praise for his training buddy.
The so called Turku-training group gets of course praise from Rantanen.
- Each of us has their own individual program for example at the gym, but when we play anything against each others, everyone is really competing hard. I have liked it very much, Rantanen keeps nodding.
The Trio doesn’t surprise, anymore
Last season Rantanen formed a true power-line with the Canadian center Nathan MacKinnon and the Swedish winger Gabriel Landeskog.
MacKinnon chipped in almost 100 points (39+58=97), and Rantanen wasn’t too far behind him. After all Rantanen won the Finnish internal scoring race with 29+55=84.
- I hope we will get to start together again. We know very well what we can do together. We have to just keep continuing what we have been doing, Rantanen says about the line combination from last season.
Last season the line was able to surprise a lot of teams. But for example Landeskog had had quite recently a bit quieter periods in his career. Despite that already in the beginning of the season the trio emerged as a great engine for the Avalanche.
- Now the opponents are for sure marking us better right from start of the season. That means that we will have to be better, Rantanen says.
In Rantanen’s opinion the story of their whole line reflected also to the whole Avalanche team.
- It might be that many were thinking a bit like ”it’s just Colorado, they were so bad last season”. A bit like they would be getting easy points. Now that we played better last season and got to the playoffs, the expectations for us are higher from the opponents. That means that our line and our team will need to be better.
”That doesn’t really bother me”
Rantanen wants to set his personal goals completely through his team.
- I’m satisfied with winning the Stanley Cup as a team. I’m not saying that it happens necessarily next season or the season after that, but you never know after all. I bet not many were believing in Vegas going all the way to the finals in their first season ever. Anything can happen.
- NHL is such an unpredictable league, Rantanen ponders.
One legendary achievement is already starting to be close for Rantanen. If the Avalanche super-line continues their wild ways and they even manage to raise their quality a notch or two, then we are talking about passing the individual 100 point mark.
– I don’t really think about those kind of things much. I have never jumped to my season thinking that I would have to score this many goals or that amount of points. That I do know that if you get to play healthy, have good linemates and you play well yourself, then it’s possible to get a lot of points. But it is still very difficult to predict how many.
He will for sure take gladly a clearly better point total though.
- For sure. Of course it would be a cool thing, Rantanen chuckles.
The versatile winger from Nousiainen managed to chip in his last season’s impressive points totals under the radar. In Finland the most of the attention was focused on Laine, which doesn’t necessarily bother Rantanen.
- Yeah, it’s no problem. Pate scores so many goals that he does deserve that kind of attention.
- That doesn’t really bother me. It’s kind of a good thing after all, Rantanen laughs on the subject.
For both Rantanen and Laine the summer in Finland is almost over.
- Two weeks left still and then I go back. Then the grind starts again there, says Rantanen about the near future.
