Now that the dust has settled from the two-week frenzy of the draft and free agency, here we take stock of where the Colorado Avalanche stand today in advance of the 2024-25 season.
Initial thoughts on Colorado’s nine-pick draft class?
Jess: I don’t mind their draft class at all personally. They certainly did a good job restocking their pipeline by actually slecting nine players in this draft, specifically their goalie pipeline since that position in their prospect pool had certainly thinned out a bit. As for any players that specifically caught my eye, I am excited to see both Tory Pitner and Jake Fisher play at the University of Denver this upcoming season.
Ezra: Interesting strategy to go after three goalies and a bunch of skaters who will develop in either college or Russia rather than Loveland. I think it makes a lot of sense given their track record there. Other than goalie Ilya Nabokov this entire class look like long term projects, so to get excited in the short term we’ll need to see Nabokov build on his playoff success in the KHL and make the jump to North America after his contract is up at the end of next season.
Jackie: It was nice to finally see a robust draft class even if it seems like they chose seven of the same guy from the USHL. I would have preferred more variety and investment in the talent pool from Sweden and Finland which has proven to yield a higher rate of success. Taking three goaltenders with nine picks isn’t that odd to me when they had only drafted one goaltender since 2019 prior to this with no goalie remaining on their reserve list or on Entry Level Contract. I like that it seems there’s a clear strategic plan with the Nabokov pick even if it’s disappointing to not add a first rounder to the prospect pool with the first rounder already missing for next year too. Thus, Cal Ritchie is not only now the team’s top prospect for the foreseeable future, he’s (spoiler alert) the best asset under 25 under years of age in the entire organization.
Eddie: I am a huge fan of Colorado’s work at the draft this year. They understood their position as a goalie prospect-poor organization and tried to tackle that by throwing as many darts at the goalie board as possible. What I liked most was that they were calculated picks. Ilya Nabokov is touted as one of the best goalies in the KHL and was one of, if not the, best goalie in this year’s class. Combine that with the fact that he is 21-years old and is on track…
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