It appears that the Colorado Avalanche and star winger Mikko Rantanen still aren’t close on a new contract agreement.

Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli joined Amazon Prime’s Coast to Coast program to provide a further update on the contract talks between the Avalanche and their top pending UFA.

“I believe the Rantanen camp has been focused on a deal in the $14 million range in line with what Leon Draisaitl received and with the salary cap increasing,” said Seravalli. “On the other hand, I believe the Avs are close to $12.6 million under what Nathan MacKinnon earns. So right now, I believe we are at a stalemate here.”

The Avs will likely want to keep Rantanen’s cap hit below that of their other star forward in MacKinnon, likely in the tradition that teams don’t want to pay players more than their best player. However, based on the projected $92.4 million salary cap, a $14 million cap hit equates to 15.15% of the salary cap, which is not much higher than MacKinnon’s 15.09% when he signed his contract, especially if the Rantanen camp think that they can get that kind of money in free agency.

Rantanen is currently in the final year of a six-year contract with a $9.25 million cap hit, and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Seravalli also mentioned that, despite recent rumours, there does not appear to be an ultimatum that the Avalanche will move Rantanen by the March 7th trade deadline if they do not come to a contract extension.

Rantanen is currently having a career year with 25 goals and 36 assists for 61 points in 45 games. That puts him on pace for a career-high 111 points, although a league-high 7 empty net goals and 13 empty net points have inflated that total a little bit.