Hours after practice Thursday, the Avalanche demoted 19-year-old rookie forward Mikko Rantanen to San Antonio of the American Hockey League.

The move likely will be good for Rantanen and good business for the Avs.

Second-year forward Dennis Everberg, who has five points (three goals) in three games with San Antonio, was called up to replace Rantanen. The Avs are carrying just 12 forwards.

“Everberg has played really well down there and deserves to come up,” Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said Thursday night.

Rantanen, the No. 10 overall pick in the June NHL draft, was pointless and minus-5 in six games with Colorado. The Finn registered seven shots and, despite playing on what were considered the first and third lines, his average ice time was just 9:12.

In comparison, Gabe Landeskog is logging 19:25, Nathan MacKinnon 19:22 and Jarome Iginla 18:13.

“It’s one thing if you’re up here and getting your 15-16 minutes a game,” Sakic said about Rantanen’s limited ice time. “We felt it was a good time for him to go down and play a lot. He needs to play a lot, quality minutes on the power play and penalty killing.”

Rantanen, who turned 19 on Tuesday, is in his first season in North America and still getting accustomed to the NHL-size rinks that are 15-feet smaller in width than the Olympic-size arenas predominantly used in Europe.

“For him being from Finland and first-time experience on the small ice surface it will be good to go down to San Antonio and get all those quality minutes,” Sakic said. “Developmentally, it’s the right thing for him to do.”

Rantanen will be paid off a $70,000 annual AHL salary at San Antonio and, because of his age and having played fewer than 10 NHL games, he is eligible to have his NHL three-year, entry-level contract “slide” to kick in next season. Thus, he won’t burn a year of his contract while playing in the AHL.

Everberg, 23, is in the final year of his two-year entry-level contract. He played in 55 games with Colorado last season, producing 12 points (three goals).

Meanwhile, the Avs (2-3-1) went through a spirited practice Thursday on the heels of Wednesday’s 1-0 overtime loss against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. They will practice again Friday to further prepare for the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or @mikechambers