The Colorado Avalanche have selected defenseman Francesco Dell-elce with the 77th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, their first selection of the day. Dell-elce played 94 games in the last two seasons, so he comes with a ton of experience.
Dell-elce is also an over-ager, as they call the players who have been passed over in previous NHL Drafts. He’s 20 years old, so his path to the NHL could be quite different than the players who are 18 or 19 years old.
Dell-elce is a 6’1”, 185 left-shot defenseman, who was rated 82nd overall by NHL Central Scouting and McKeen’s Hockey. Additionally, he was ranked 94th overall by Peter Baracchini of The Hockey Writers.
Dell-elce had 16 goals and 46 assists in the last two seasons, first with Penticton Vees of the BCHL and then UMass-Amherst of the H-East league.
He is said to have good puck movement skills and transition out of the defensive zone. He can also shoot the puck, as evidenced by his scoring statistics. He was also named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in February of 2025.
As a third-round pick, Dell-elce will have to work his way up into the Avalanche lineup, whenever or if he ever gets close.
The Avalanche love a defenseman that can skate with the puck, and if he ever cracks the Avalanche, he could become an underrated player.
According to some sources, Dell-elce had been projected as a fourth or fifth-round pick earlier in the year. My assumption is that he has worked his way up the boards of some teams, including the Avalanche, and that’s a good sign if it is any indication that he could be something in the NHL. Of course, we could be a long way from finding out, but that’s the way it goes.