What picks do the Colorado Avalanche have in the 2022 NHL Draft?
The Colorado Avalanche would have been picking 32nd in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft due to winning the Stanley Cup.
However, their goalie Darcy Kuemper is the reason that the team actually does not have that pick.
In fact, the Avalanche don’t even have a second-round pick. They traded it to the New York Islanders for defenseman Devon Toews.
The team will have to wait until the final selection in the third round (No. 97th overall) to make their first pick of the draft.
The Avalanche have four picks in this year’s draft:
97th overall
161st overall
193rd overall
225th overall
Colorado does not have a fourth-round pick this year, as they traded it away to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Patrik Nemeth in April of 2021. Nemeth, who is actually now on the New York Rangers, played 155 games during his time with the Avalanche, including a career-high 74 games in 2018-19.
UPDATE: The Colorado Avalanche have traded picks 97 and 161, as well as a third-round pick next year to the New York Rangers for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev
Colorado Avalanche might lose several key players, forcing action in 2022 NHL Draft.
There are several players who could have played their last minutes with the Avalanche during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Center Nazem Kadri, wingers Valeri Nichushkin, Andrew Cogliano and Andre Burakovsky, goaltender Darcy Kuemper and defenseman Josh Manson are all scheduled to hit free agency on July 13th. Perhaps some of those players will choose to try and run it back with the Avalanche in 2022-2023, and I would imagine that a few of them won’t.
As this article suggests, the Avalanche could go after a player whose father has ties to the team: Marek Hejduk. His dad, Milan Hejduk, played for the team from 1998 through 2013, which was the duration of his entire career.
It would be fascinating to see how Marek Hejduk would do with the Avalanche in several years from now. Oftentimes, players don’t play for the team that drafts them until several years down the road, and it is possible that Hejduk would spend the next four years at a lower level, trying to improve his game so he would be more prepared for the NHL.