The 2026 NHL Draft is quickly approaching. The Colorado Avalanche don’t have a pick until 74th overall, so the first day, which consists of just Round 1, will probably be boring and uneventful. Round 1 will happen on Friday, with rounds 2-7 on Saturday.
Still, there is plenty to talk about. The Avalanche, despite being one of the best teams in the league over the past 10 seasons, have things to discuss. Will they stay at 74? Or will they decide a trade of that pick is better, maybe for an already-developed player?
If they choose that second avenue, they’d likely have to move on from someone such as Valeri Nichushkin, who has a cap hit of $6.125 million in each of the next four years. The pick could be bundled with Nichushkin for a middle-six winger or something along those lines.
Overall, the Avalanche’s selections are as follows:
Round 3: Pick 74;
Round 4: Picks 126, 128;
Round 5: Picks 149, 152;
Round 7: Picks 195, 214, 215, 222
What the Avalanche could/should do with their 2026 Draft selections
There is no immediate need for the Avalanche, so not having a first—or even second-round pick isn’t the end of the world. Still, they’ll need to start developing some players as they have one of the worst prospect pools in all of the NHL according to some folks.
They should follow a couple of themes in this class: Big forwards, various types of defensemen, and potential steals. Last year, they took defensemen Francesco Dell’Elce and Linus Funck in Rounds 3 and 4, before making a move on center Nolan Roed in Round 7. All three could possibly be in development stage for a number of years.
It’s not common for late-round draft picks to make an impact early on. However, someone like Nikita Prishchepov is an exception. He had a tryout with the Avalanche as a rookie, but upon further analysis from the Avs, they decided to keep him on the AHL Eagles for most of the year.
The hope is that Ilya Nabokov can be the team’s next star at goaltender at some point, but with Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood under contract, there’s not a major rush for him to be called up, though he did make his way to the Eagles, which is a nice start.
What have the Avalanche done with several recent picks?
It feels like the Avalanche want to make use of their draft picks in the sense of using them as trade bait. Gone from previous drafts are Calum Ritchie, William Zellers, Jeremy Hanzel, and Max Curran.
In fact, they don’t even have a first round pick in any of the next three drafts and lack a second-round pick in two of the next three years. If they don’t win a Stanley Cup after using those draft picks to acquire players to lead them to the ultimate goal, it’s going to be extremely disappointing. Their core is in the prime of its career with Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, and their two No. 1-caliber goaltenders.
Risking their future for players that are brought in for a Stanley Cup run and then not winning it all within three years would be catastrophic. What will the team do when their core is near the end of their career? They won’t be around forever, and once they’re all gone, will the Avalanche have the proper young developed players in place? To me, that’s concerning.
In the end, I wouldn’t be shocked if they did move one of their picks. Perhaps they’ll trade down to acquire even more draft capital whether that be in this week’s NHL Draft or one further down the road. The relaxing thing is that the Avalanche have a solid general manager with Joe Sakic in place after the Chris MacFarland departed to Nashville. I’m excited to see the true direction of the team’s prospect pool.
Hopefully, they aren’t gone from the team within a couple of years.
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