The Colorado Avalanche are getting prepared to face the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of the second round in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’ve got more firepower than anyone in their way, though the Carolina Hurricanes seem to be the other team in the way. However, they’re in the Eastern Conference, so any chance Colorado has at playing them would be in the Final.
That being said, there are players on multiple other teams who are fighting to play in the Final who used to play in Colorado for the Avs. Some you’ll easily remember, and others you might think, oh yeahhhh… him.
An honourable mention is Nicolas Aube-Kubel. A second-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2014, Aube-Kubel spent a single season with the Avs. He won the Stanley Cup with the team in 2021-22, but though his 11 goals and 11 assists that season remain his best season as a pro, he’s better known as the guy who dented the Stanley Cup.
Hilariously, Aube-Kubel even got a tattoo of the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche logo around it. The funny thing is that he included the dent in the tattoo.
Let’s check in on the other former Avalanche players.
Bowen Byram
Bowen Byram was a first-round pick of the Avalanche (4th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft.
He played in 146 games with the Avalanche throughout four seasons, and his best season with the team came in 2022-23 (the year after the Stanley Cup win), when he had 10 goals and 14 assists.
In 2023-24, Byram played in 55 games with Colorado, scoring eight goals and having 12 assists. He was then traded to the Buffalo Sabres to finish the season, where he had three goals and six assists in 18 games for Buffalo.
He has played in all 164 games over the past two seasons for the Sabres, having 18 goals and 62 assists.
Colorado traded Byram due to the fact that they needed a second-line center more urgently than they needed their young defenseman. They acquired Casey Mittelstadt from the Sabres. Unfortunately, Mittelstadt’s time with the Avs didn’t last very long. In his second season with the club, he played in 63 games, recording just 11 goals and 23 assists.
He was a -12 player that year for Colorado.
In eight playoff games played this postseason as of this writing, Byram has four goals and two assists with a power play goal.
Sean Walker
Now, this one kind of stings. Sean Walker was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in a package deal in which the Flyers took on Ryan Johansen and his contract.
This was a salary dump for the Avalanche, so they unfortunately had to include a high draft pick in the deal, which they sent a conditional first-round selection to Philly. The trade ended up as a wash for both teams.
Ultimately, Walker finished out his contract, which expired at the end of the 2023-24 season.
In seven playoff games this postseason, Walker has two assists, 13 blocks, and 25 assists.
Alex Newhook
Well, this is another one that stung. Alex Newhook was a first-round pick (16th overall) by the Avalanche in 2019.
A center out of St. John’s, Newfound Land, Canada, Newhook was the Avalanche’s next hopeful at the position.
He spent three seasons with the Avalanche, playing in 159 games and recording 27 goals in his second and third seasons combined, as well as 39 assists in all three years.
That just simply isn’t enough to warrant being in that role for the Avs.
He was shipped to the Montreal Canadiens for the 31st and 37th overall picks in the 2023 NHL Draft. Colorado took Calum Ritchie and Mikhail Gulyayev with those picks, and eventually traded Ritchie to the Islanders in a package that got them Brock Nelson.
Gulyayev’s contract with Avangard Omsk in the KHL is about to expire, so there’s a possibility he could join the Avalanche organization at some point.
In nine playoff games so far this postseason, Newhook has three goals on 15 shots, and one assist.
Nico Sturm
Nico Sturm was an undrafted free agent in 2018 and caught on with the Minnesota Wild. His lone season with the Avs was in 2021–22, when he played 21 games, recording zero goals and three assists. The Avs acquired him in a trade with the Wild, for Tyson Jost.
Yakov Trenin
Yakov Trenin is another player who did not play a long time for the Avalanche. The center was acquired from the Nashville Predators in a trade that also netted the Avs Graham Sward, who never played for the team. He is currently a free agent.
In that trade, the Avalanche sent the rights to Jeremy Hanzel to Minnesota, along with a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which ended up with the Toronto Maple Leafs and used on center Tyler Hopkins.
In six games this postseason, Trenin has zero goals, and two assists.
In each of the three previous seasons before he ended up with the Avalanche, Trenin had double-digit goal totals.
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