Welcome to the September 2022 edition of the DobberProspects 32-in-32 Series! This month, we will be diving into the depth of each organization, looking at their recent graduates, risers, fallers, and top 20 prospects.
The biggest takeaway from last month’s installment on the organization’s offseason ins and outs: there aren’t many new faces in Colorado.
Barring any surprise additions, the majority of the lineup is locked in looking something like this:
Landeskog – MacKinnon – Rantanen
Lehkonen – Compher – Nichushkin
TBD – Newhook – O’Connor
Helm – TBD – TBD
Toews – Makar
Girard – Manson
Byram – Johnson
MacDermid
Georgiev
Francouz
Johansson
The only real spots available are in the bottom-six up front, where the top competitors for those TBD spots are Ben Meyers, Anton Blidh, and Lukas Sedlak, all of whom are on one-year “prove-it” deals and have NHL experience. Martin Kaut will also be in the running if he can stay healthy.
The team has approximately 3.9M in cap space which means they could still be in the running for someone like Evan Rodrigues to add forward depth and give the team some options just in case Compher or Newhook struggle with a full season of more responsibility in Kadri’s absence.
GRADUATING PLAYERS
College free agent signing Ben Meyers technically graduated at the end of 2021-22, but too late in the season to appear in the championship run. He will be expected to grab a full-time NHL bottom-six role out of training camp.
Top prospect Oskar Olausson also technically graduated to a pro at the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign, but this is expected to be his first full pro campaign so we’ll include the scoring winger here. He got top-six minutes during his AHL audition, but the Eagles have a tendency to move top prospects down the lineup without mercy if they don’t commit quickly to two-way development which isn’t always good for fantasy stock in the short-term.
Danila Zhuravlyov will attempt to graduate from the KHL to the AHL in 2022-23, but the 22-year-old defensive specialist is not fantasy-relevant even if the transition is seamless.
ON THE CUSP
Martin Kaut is NHL-ready and will have a spot waiting for him… if he can dispel whatever injury curse hits him at the start of every season. He can’t catch a break but has come back better every time so far.
Lukas Sedlak is making an NHL comeback attempt after finding success in the KHL. He will be a bottom-six option right away but will need to hope his overseas offense translates because he wasn’t moving the needle enough in his stints before that with Columbus.
RISERS
Sean Behrens is a defenceman who got drafted by Joe Sakic which should have been an instant value boost last year. He was in the mix for Team USA for the WJC, and since the most recent trade deadline, almost all of his internal competition has been traded away.
FALLERS
Former 1st-round pick Shane Bowers was a healthy scratch during the AHL Eagles’ home stretch and playoff run. A new home would have put him on the Risers list for whoever snagged him, but staying put keeps him buried and under-utilized in the minors. It’s a weird move for both sides unless something has changed behind the scenes.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEPTH CHART
Positions are based on a combination of NHL readiness, organizational standing, and upside.
| Left Wing | Center |
Right Wing |
|
Mikhail Maltsev |
Ben Meyers | Martin Kaut |
|
Sampo Ranta |
Shane Bowers |
Nicolas Beaucage |
|
Oskar Olausson |
Jean-Luc Foudy |
Nikolai Kovalenko |
|
Callahan Burke |
Matthew Stienburg |
Spencer Smallman |
| Andrei Buyalsky |
Sasha Mutala |
|
|
Colby Ambrosio |
||
| Taylor Makar
|
| Left Defense | Right Defense |
| Sean Behrens | Nathan Clurman |
| Keaton Middleton | Chris Romaine |
| Danila Zhuravlyov | |
| Nick Leivermann | |
| Mitchell Vande-Sompel | |
| Wyatt Aamodt |
|
Goalies |
|
Justus Annunen |
|
Trent Miner |
|
Ivan Zhigalov |
|
Shamil Shmakov |
TOP 20 FANTASY PROSPECTS
This ranking is based on a combination of scoring upside and NHL likelihood. Gaps indicate “tiers” of prospects
- Oskar Olausson
- Sean Behrens
- Justus Annunen
***
- Alex Beaucage
- Ben Meyers
- Martin Kaut
- Sampo Ranta
- Jean-Luc Foudy
- Shane Bowers
***
- Matthew Stienburg
- Nikolai Kovalenko
- Mikhail Maltsev
***
- Colby Ambrosio
- Andrei Buyalsky
***
- Nick Leivermann
- Spencer Smallman
- Callahan Burke
- Trent Miner
- Chris Romaine
- Sasha Mutala
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @soboleskih for year-round Colorado Avalanche prospect updates.
Hayden Sobolesk