Again, and for the foreseeable future, the NHL Entry Draft is of a different relevance to the Colorado Avalanche as they don’t have a first round pick until at least 2029. Even their lone remaining second round selection for the foreseeable future (in 2027) likely won’t make it through the next trade deadline so picking later in the draft is the new normal for Colorado.
Still, this draft offers more intrigue than usual because the Avalanche hold nine draft picks, though Colorado won’t be on the clock
until day two. That might not sound exciting or important but if the Carolina Hurricanes can get a Jackson Blake at 109th overall then it’s no excuse to write-off the goal of getting an impact player outside the top 100 picks.
Colorado’s 2026 draft class splits evenly into two different tiers. First, the newly acquired third round pick from the Ross Colton trade plus a duo of fourth and fifth round picks make for a nice mid-round cluster and then there’s four remaining Hail Mary lotto tickets in the seventh round. Both sections of the draft require a bit of a different strategy but it is still possible to get NHL contributions in each portion of the draft as shown below.
Candidates at 74th Overall
Huzzah! Joe Sakic procured a relevant draft asset in the aforementioned recent Ross Colton trade. This was Nashville’s own third round pick and holds some decent value especially as it sits in the top third of the round. There’s a lot of thought that this pick should just get traded because the Avalanche have made horrendous picks in the third round (and later) as shown below but that shouldn’t be an excuse to stop trying. A good pick needs to be coupled with a development plan and organizational commitment but it can be done to try and reverse previous failures. Let’s be honest, whoever gets selected at 74th overall is in all probability instantly a top five prospect in this organization.
Perhaps it’s time to go back to the Rouyn-Noranda well to look for options in the third round with this rare opportunity for Colorado to pick early on the second day of the draft. Enter Lars Steiner who is a 5-foot-10 right winger import to the QMJHL from Switzerland. He can shoot the puck as evidenced by his 30 goals in 44 games this season and produced 55 points overall. Steiner played on the Swiss team at the World Junior Championship and contributed four points in five games. As a late birthday he will turn 18 this fall and should have many options available to him on where to play next season. Steiner is ranked 89th on NHL Central Scouting’s North American list but many other rankings have him in the third round. He’s the type of talent the Avalanche might be intrigued by as they value goal scoring in their prospects highly.
Candidates at 126th, 128th, 149th, and 152nd Overall
With this much mid-round draft capital it is possible the Avalanche package some of these picks to move around the draft board. This isn’t something the organization has done much of in the past, in fact the only draft selection in the Joe Sakic era they have moved up for was when they ascended ten spots to 139th to select Ryder Rolston in 2020. Of course the idea is contingent on not trading these picks away in other deals for immediate needs on the Avalanche roster.
It is difficult to identify any particular targets 100 picks deep into the draft but there will always be some fallers who were expected to go a round or two higher. Those types of players should be the target here in hopes to rebuild the prospect system. Forecasting particulars, though, Colorado loves their specific targets of overagers, NCAA players and Russians. Potentially a combination of two or three of those attributes would be perfect if they can find it.
One player actually does fit all three criteria and that is Egor Barabanov, ranked number one on The Althetic’s top overager list as the left shot center was fourth in the OHL in scoring for Saginaw with and has recently committed to UMass. We know the Avalanche have a lot of familiarity with that program and have a prospect in defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce heading into his junior year at the school. Listed at 43rd on NHL Central Scouting’s rankings for North American skaters Barabanov might fall out of reach for Colorado but the value of overagers is tough to peg. Still, no doubt the young Russian is on their radar.
Candidates at 195th, 214th, 215th, and 222nd Overall
There has been an interesting draft factoid for the Avalanche is that almost all seventh rounds picks they have taken in their history drafted out of the CHL have been signed to a NHL Entry Level Contract (the lone exception being goalie Ivan Zhigalov drafted in 2022). The CHL produces a deep talent pool will always have some options late in the draft, Nikita Prishchepov’s selection at 217th overall in 2024 as the latest example. While the impetus is to use very late draft selections on long-term projects from either Russia or the NCAA, it’s interesting to note that the CHL seventh round picks have made it a worthy investment.
Speaking of Russian goaltenders, Yegor Rybkin has Avalanche prospect written all over him. He is the second ranked international goalie, stands at 6-foot-7 and was injured for most of the year, which might make him drop in the rankings. He plays in Russia’s MHL for the Nizhny Novgorod system so his NHL rights will be held indefinitely by the team that drafts him. The organization loves large goaltenders and long-term projects. With four seventh round pick at their disposal some selections will fit that criteria.
What type of targets would you like to see the Avalanche pick on draft day? Let us know in the comments!
