3 Colorado Avalanche needs in the 2024 NHL Draft
The Colorado Avalanche are unfortunately a few weeks removed from the 2023-24 NHL playoffs. It’s close to draft season. While their players are resting up before activities get ramped up again for next season, the 2024 NHL Draft is only one short month away. It is held on June 28th and 29th.
The Avalanche have some decisions to make and also have to brace for potential losses even if they attempt to re-sign some players. It is entirely possible that one or a couple of their free agents decides it is time to move on to a new team.
Unfortunately, three players the Avalanche acquired at the 2023-24 trade deadline (Sean Walker, Yakov Trenin, and Brandon Duhaime) are all scheduled to become free agents. Casey Mittelstadt is a restricted free agent, so it appears in all likelihood that he will be back… but you never know.
#3 spot the Colorado Avalanche need to address in the 2024 NHL Draft: A bottom defenseman
When it comes to the Colorado Avalanche and their defensemen, a couple of names stand out: Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Sam Girard, and Sean Walker. As I stated above, Walker is scheduled to hit free agency. The other three are good to go and they have a strong prospect in Sam Malinski waiting in the wings to get his turn.
But, in the NHL, drafted prospects most of the time sit out of the NHL for at least a year unless they are as talented as someone like Connor Bedard. With the Colorado Avalanche selecting 24th overall in the first round, that isn’t a prime spot that screams, “Get this player on the ice immediately.”
I am excited to see what comes from Sam Malinski in the future, and if all things go well, he will be re-signed past this season, as he is scheduled to become a free agent in 2025.
#2 spot the Colorado Avalanche need to address in the 2024 NHL Draft: A goal-scoring forward
Okay, this one might seem extra obvious, as you want all of your forwards to provide goals. The problem isn’t the top guys. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Jonathan Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin and Casey Mittelstadt were their top-five scorers last season in terms of forwards.
Two of those guys might not be back: Mittelstadt could sign an offer sheet the Avalanche may not want to match, and Nichushkin will miss six months due to a suspension, which bleeds into the 2024-25 season. Again, while these drafted players may not see the ice as rookies, the Avalanche need to prepare as if they have holes to fill.
Despite the Avalanche surrendering too many four-goal games, they led the league in goals per game at 3.68. They were second in the league in power-play goals with 68. The problem is the future. I’m not saying these draft picks are going to have to come in day 1. We just don’t know what the colorado Avalanche are going to look like several years down the road.
Ideally, some of the Colorado Eagles prospects come up in 2024-25 and make some sort of impact. There are several that I’m eager to see in an Avalanche sweater: Nikolai Kovalenko and Riley Tufte come to mind in terms of forwards. You also have a defensemen who can make an offensive impact in Sam Malinski.
#1 spot the Colorado Avalanche need to address in the 2024 NHL Draft: Goaltender Depth
There were times when the Colorado Avalanche stepped up in spite of Alexandar Georgiev. There were some games where Justus Annunen came in and some that he started (and played very well). I’m still pressing the gas for Annunen to start more games for the Avalanche next season.
Thankfully, we did get to see some lights-out play by Georgiev in the 2023-24 postseason. After the first game against the Winnipeg Jets, Georgiev was on fire. Unfortunately, the team just couldn’t overcome the Dallas Stars in Game 6 in double overtime. It was a tight game until the very end.
I think the question the Avalanche have to ask themselves is whether or not Georgiev is worth keeping around past his contract: he’s in a contract year, making $3.4 million.
The team clearly likes Annunen, who they signed to an extension during the regular season, but even with that, he’s a work in progress.
The big thing here is that the Avalanche cannot keep surrendering so many high-scoring games. It’s not sustainable in the long-run. Other teams will figure out ways to hold them off.
Who knows, maybe they have someone waiting for their chance. We got to see Ivan Prosvetov in some games and I personally thought that he was going to be the backup, but he got sent down and never came back up. Maybe more time will help him in a year or two.
The team did just re-sign Trent Miner, but he’s all the way down with the Utah Grizzlies and won’t be ready for a couple of years.
I think the best course of action is to keep throwing darts at goaltenders and see which one(s) stay on the board. The goaltender situation is a bit scary in my opinion, and there’s always room to improve. Whether or not they do remains to be seen, but I think that they should.