The Colorado Avalanche will play a best-of-seven series against the Dallas Stars. During last year’s playoff run, the Avalanche faced the Stars in the Conference Semi-Finals and lost the series in six games.

The Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche are meeting in the playoffs again, this time in the opening round with Mikko Rantanen on a different side.

Rantanen wasn’t done moving, either. He declined to sign a contract extension with the Hurricanes before the trade deadline, so one of the 10-15 best players in the world was traded again, and this time to the franchise that knocked the Avalanche out of the playoffs in 2020 and 2024.