Slight Adjustment Could Unlock Stars' Mikko Rantanen

The Dallas Stars need Mikko Rantanen to get going. Through two games of their first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, he's been a non-factor. He has zero points, few quality scoring chances, and is falling short of the organization's expectations.

The Stars must not panic, however. There is a slight adjustment head coach Peter DeBoer can make at even strength that could unlock Rantanen's production in this series. DeBoer should swap Rantanen and Evgenii Dadonov. This would pair Rantanen with Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn.

In Game 2, Rantanen spent the majority of his 5-on-5 ice time with Roope Hintz and Mikael Granlund. They've been fine, but nothing out of the ordinary. Rantanen hasn't excelled at even strength. According to MoneyPuck's data from Game 2, this line was outshot, outscored, and outchanced.

A reason why could because Granlund is a playmaker. He defers to shooters. Hintz is a play driver who does most of his damage the closer he gets to the net. Rantanen has stayed on the perimeter for most of his offensive zone time in Games 1 and 2, and it's resulting in non-threatening scoring chances.

If Rantanen skates with Benn and Johnston, the dynamic changes completely. Rantanen can stay on the perimeter and still collect points. He could take on the playmaker role on this line, setting up Johnston for scoring chances while Benn cleans up the rebounds. Ideally, this allows Rantanen to pick up an assist or a dirty goal and hopefully ignites more offense to follow.

The adjustment would also spread out the offensive firepower even more for the Stars. The goal with this approach is to keep mixing and matching until DeBoer finds the offensive matchup to take advantage of. If that means Rantanen catches fire playing on the "third line", so be it. If the Avalanche adjust and try to keep a pairing like Cale Makar and Devon Toews playing against Rantanen's line, it will free up a better matchup for the other two scoring lines.

The best way for the Stars to take hold of this series is a dominant effort from Rantanen. So far, the lineup decisions haven't worked for the star forward. It's not time to panic or overthink this, a simple swapping of wingers could unlock Rantanen's offensive game and help Dallas earn a lead in their first-round series.