Potential Colorado Avalanche star prospect William Zellers named Forward of the Week

Do the Colorado Avalanche have a future star in 2024 draft pick William Zellers?

2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft - Portraits
2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft - Portraits | Candice Ward/GettyImages

The Colorado Avalanche selected William Zellers out of Shattuck St. Mary's (Minn. H.S.) with the 76th pick (3rd round) in the 2024 NHL Draft. As is often the case for most draft picks, Zellers isn’t going to be appearing in the NHL this season, but it certainly is a possibility that he can be a difference-maker later down the road.

Sure, he could also see some time with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL, but that’s just part of the way things go in the NHL for the young players. As a third-round pick, I would expect him to play for Colorado at some point. Zellers has been playing for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL and most recently put up a Forward of the Week performance.

He had *checks notes* eight points in *checks notes again* two games for Green Bay. That is an absolute monster of a week especially in a two-game span. Heck, check out these sweet goals by Zellers recently:

In the 2024-25 season for the Green Bay Gamblers, Zellers has played in 26 games, putting up a goal per game (26) and 14 assists for 40 points. Those types of numbers are exceptional.

Oh, and he also had a hat trick the other night.

Obviously, the Colorado Avalanche have several other players on the Eagles who can and have filled in at left wing on various lines, and it might be several years before Zellers makes it up to the big league, but if he continues to work and produce these amazing numbers going forward, he’ll have earned a spot to come up to the Avalanche a fair amount, in my opinion.

The Avalanche have called up the most players this season due to injuries across the roster. Hopefully that won’t be the reason Zellers gets called up in the future. I’d love for him to earn it by himself and not have it as a “desperation” move.

Something tells me that he’s going to be a star player in the future. For now, however, he has committed to UND.

Zellers leads the USHL with 26 points this season.

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