The 32-in-32 Series is an annual event here at DobberProspects. Every day we will be bringing you a complete breakdown of a team’s Draft and insights into their off-season movements thus far. Following this up next month we will dive into every team’s prospect depth chart with fantasy insights and implications for the upcoming seasons.
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Make sure to check out the Colorado Avalanche team page here: https://dobberprospects.com/team/colorado-avalanche/
To view past 32s go here: https://dobberprospects.com/category/feature/32-in-32-series/
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There’s no shame in losing to Dallas, but the Avalanche have struggled in the playoffs since their Stanley Cup win and turnover from that core officially began with Rantanen’s unceremonious trade. Between Necas’ contract uncertainty and Landeskog, Nichushkin, and Lehkonen all having a history of missing time, even the high-scoring Avs don’t have fans overly confident right now. The recent approach has been to tread water for a few months to evaluate everyone and then stock up at the deadline, and even though that was mainly due to injuries last year there’s no reason to expect any different in 2025-26. They brought in a new Assistant Coach and new Head Coach in the AHL so NHLers and prospects alike are going to have fresh eyes on them this year.
Speaking of prospects, let’s dive into Colorado’s draft. The Avs had only three picks in 2025, starting in the 3rd round. They won’t be fantasy-worthy and won’t be signing ELCs without two years of development minimum, but we know that draft picks this late are all lottery tickets so let’s see if they come up lucky. They drafted on the older side overall so at the very least, we might know sooner rather than later what kind of haul they’ve brought in.
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NHL Draft Recap
Round 3, 77th Overall – Francesco Dell’Elce, LD
Colorado has a long history of success when drafting defencemen, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when they picked Dell’Elce. As a freshman at UMass he led his team’s blueline in points, and he put up a decent point total in the BCHL before that. He clearly transitions smoothly between leagues, coaches, and systems, but the Avs won’t be rushing him into another change too soon. The AHL Eagles have other point producers in their D corps so they may leave him in the NCAA for now to develop.
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Round 4, 118th Overall – Linus Funck, RD
Another addition on defence, the Avs went a bit bigger with Funck who currently measures 6-3 and has racked up PIMs for the last several years. His 28 points and 59 PIMs in 48 games in the Swedish Jr league were all positive indicators of what could be coming in Funck’s future. He breaks up plays well with his size, but will need to put on weight to play a more complete game for someone his height. Similar to Dell’Elce, don’t expect any rush here from Colorado’s perspective – he has a couple more years of seasoning ahead of him before we know what kind of asset they have drafted.
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Round 7, 214th Overall – Nolan Roed, F
Last year, the Avs used their final pick on Nikita Prishchepov, a “do-it-all” but rough-around-the-edges forward, and he ended up seeing NHL action within a few months. That won’t happen again with Roed, but they have again taken a swing on an older prospect (he turns 20 in October) who put up good point totals but has room for improvement all around the ice. One notable strength – he put up a ton of shorthanded points in the USHL last year. He will be joining St. Cloud State in the fall and hopefully carves out a role for himself to keep the points coming.
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Off-Season Moves
Incoming
Brent Burns, RD (1x 1M)
Zakhar Bardakov, C (1x 775k)
Daniil Guschin, RW/LW (1x 775k)
Alex Barre-Boulet, LW (1x 775k) (AHL)
Gavin Brindley, RW (1x 950k) (AHL)
Ronnie Attard, D (1x 775k) (AHL)
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Outgoing
Charlie Coyle, C
Miles Wood, LW/RW
Jonathan Drouin, LW
Joel Kiviranta, LW (unsigned UFA, may re-sign)
Jimmy Vesey, LW/RW (unsigned UFA, may re-sign)
Givani Smith, RW
John Ludvig, LD
Oskar Olausson, LW (AHL)
Matthew Phillips, RW (AHL)
Jere Innala, LW (AHL)
Kevin Mandolese, G (AHL)
Calle Rosen, D (AHL)
J-L Foudy, RW (AHL)
William Dufour, RW (AHL)
Chris Wagner, C (AHL)
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Re-Signed
Brock Nelson, C (3x 7.5M)
Sam Malinski, RD (1x 1.4M)
Parker Kelly, LW (4x 1.7M)
Trent Miner, G (2x 775k) (AHL)
Jason Polin, RW (1x $775k) (AHL)
Matthew Stienburg, RW (1x 775k) (AHL)
Jack Ahcan, LD (1x 775k) (AHL)
TJ Tynan , C (1x 775k) (AHL)
The outgoing list is much larger than the incoming list above, which has some people hoping for more off-season action still to come for Colorado. They have the cap space to add another forward or two to fill in a thin bottom-six up front.
Despite being unimpressive in their depth roles, there also aren’t many prospects expected to push for those spots. With some NHL experience under his belt already, trade acquisition Guschin will have an opportunity to stay in the big league if he can perform well in preseason. KHL standout Bardakov will get a look in camp, and veteran Barre-Boulet could also push for a spot but is more likely to be a top-line AHLer to replace Phillips.
Notable additions to the AHL squad will include Gavin Brindley (acquired from Columbus in the Coyle/Wood deal) who instantly becomes their highest-upside forward in the minors, and Ronnie Attard who will bring some offense to the blue line. Both have call-up potential for 2025-26 but are unlikely to be regular fantasy contributors this year.
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Development Camp
Avs Development Camp took place from July 1-3. Sean Behrens skated with the team for the first time since his season-ending knee injury which was the biggest news – he appeared a bit rusty as expected but looked ready for full contact come pre-season.
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In The System
Risers
Ilya Nabokov, G: With his ELC signed and a timeline in place for his transition to North America (2026-27), fantasy owners can start getting excited. Goalies are always very long-term projects but the development plan is officially in motion.
Zakhar Bardakov, C: The stars may be aligned thanks to a strong KHL campaign, a one-year “prove-it” contract, and a shallow bottom-six in Colorado. His upside is bottom-six, but his timeline could be quick and his contributions could span multiple fantasy categories.
Fallers
Sean Behrens, LD: This time last year, I was very excited about Behrens after a promising AHL try-out. Now, he’s coming off a year-long knee injury which has set back his development timeline and added more uncertainty about the impact he could have immediately on the Eagles. A strong start would put him right back in the good books, but any prospect who misses a full year will see a value hit.
Likely to See NHL Action This Year
Daniil Guschin
Zakhar Bardakov
Ivan Ivan
Nikita Prishchepov
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Top 20 Prospects
This section is intended to paint a picture of the prospects whose current trajectory projects them to make the most positive fantasy impact at the time that they reach the NHL. Arrival date and NHL certainty have been taken into consideration; however, potential upside is the most important factor in determining this list.
- Ilya Nabokov
- Daniil Guschin
- Gavin Brindley
- Max Curran
- Christian Humphreys
- Zakhar Bardakov
- Sean Behrens
- Ivan Ivan
- Mikhail Gulyayev
- Nikita Prishchepov
- Francesco Dell’Elce
- Trent Miner
- Isak Posch
- Ronnie Attard
- Linus Funck
- Taylor Makar
- Cooper Gay
- Jake Fisher
- Nolan Roed
- Matt Stienburg
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Final Thoughts
The top half of Colorado’s lineup remains very dangerous, and the true spots available in the bottom-half probably won’t be known until the trade market dust truly settles in the fall. Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen, they remain firmly in win-now mode while MacKinnon and Makar are in their primes so the opportunities available for prospects will be sparse. Prospects such as Guschin or Bardakov may give you some helpful streaming fantasy stats if they can hold down a spot out of camp, but those roles are very likely to be upgraded at the trade deadline so fantasy considerations here are for multiple years out, not 2025-26.
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Thanks for reading! Follow me on BlueSky @hsobo for Avalanche prospect updates all year long.
Hayden Soboleski