Latest development reveals Avalanche's shocking NHL draft plan
Photo credit: Ron Chenoy / USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Avalanche's finish last season would have earned them the 22nd overall pick in the first round of this week's NHL Draft. However, that pick now belongs to the Philadelphia Flyers.
That said, the Avalanche don't seem all that interested in focusing on drafting amateur talent these days.
Avalanche ready to make a splash at the NHL Draft.
Mark Knudson from Mile High Sports writes that similar to their counterparts at Ball Arena, the Avalanche leadership, led for the past decade by general manager turned team president Joe Sakic and assistant GM turned full-time GM Chris MacFarland, has shifted focus.
"After having built a core with draft picks like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar - have turned away from using draft picks to select players and instead have traded most of them away for veterans to try to fill holes in the roster." -Knudson
Now that they've exactly been hitting the mark with most of their first-round picks over the past decade, either. If you thought their playoff power play percentage was rough, their draft success rate hasn't been much better.
"Tyson Jost, Martin Kaut, Justin Barron, Oskar Olausson and Mikhail Gulyayev have been first-round picks that followed Rantanen since 2015. They did pick Bowen Byrum and Alex Newhook, but traded them both away. Cal Ritchie - the 2023 first-round pick - was traded to the New York Islanders this season after playing in just seven games with the Avs." -Knudson
There isn't much to show for those former first-round selections. Instead, the Avalanche seem content with landing center Brock Nelson and a few other veterans to plug in around their core ahead of the trade deadline, a stretch that also saw them part ways with Mikko Rantanen.
"This year's top pick was sent to Philadelphia mostly to get rid of Ryan Johansen but also to obtain Sean Walker, who left as a free agent after last season. So like the Nuggets, the Avs are currently slated to be mostly spectators during the upcoming draft. They still have two picks, but they're in the fourth and seventh rounds. Doubtful they'll find any difference makers then." -Knudson
Don't be surprised if several of those late-round picks end up getting shipped out as well.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 25 | 29 ANSWERS Latest development reveals Avalanche's shocking NHL draft plan Do you think the Avalanche will end up trading away their late-round picks from the 2025 NHL Draft? | ||
| yes | 15 | 51.7 % |
| no | 14 | 48.3 % |
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