Avalanche draft review

''You build your team through the draft.'' 

The Avalanche philosophy hasn't changed one bit since last year. Once again, they haven't made a single trade to improve their roster, not wanting to risk the future of the team for present success. Meanwhile, after a not so busy deadline for the GM Michaud, most prospects are pretty much done with their regular sesons and are approching the playoffs. 

It seemed like a good occasion to look at the seasons of the recent draftees of the team.

17th overall pick - Kyle Connor : Kyle Connor has been an absolute beast through this season. After being snubbed by Team USA for the WJC, Kyle Connor has simply torn apart the NCAA, more so than Jack Eichel last year for instance. He has 69 points in 36 games at the moment, while the two following top scorers in the whole NCAA have 60 and 54 points. Both are his linemates in Michigan. We believe he will step into the NHL next season after winning the Hobey Baker trophy and have an impact for the Jets. We're extremely proud of that pick, even though it may have seemed a little bit off the board last year.

47th overall pick - Colin White : Colin White is a good two-way centerman that has scored 41 points in 34 games for Boston College in his freshman season this year. What a year for him. He's been playing well on the top line at the WJC with Auston Matthews as well. We believe he may not take the Larkin route, even though they are very similar players. White may play another year in College hockey before graduating for the Sens. After rushing Lazar, I don't believe the Senators would rush their other two-way center two years later. 

76th overall pick - Jack Roslovic : Jack Roslovic played in the NCAA as well this year in Miami. While he's leading this Miami team in points with 26 in 36 games, Roslovic has slowed down after a very very productive start to his NCAA career. We believe he was a very decent pick where he was picked. We did sacrifice our 1st round pick this year to get that 3rd rounder in the last draft, believing Roslovic may be better than the guy we will end up with this year in the first round. Since the Avalanche have been steadily climbing in the rankings after my come back, it's now more or less safe to assume that this pick isn't top 20 at the moment, and we do see a big drop off after 18ish guys this year, which means that we probably don't regret the trade since we do think Roslovic has high-end offensive potential. 

77th overall pick - Jimmy Vesey : Jimmy Vesey is in our opinion another finalist to the Hobey Baker trophy. With 24 goals in 32 NCAA games, he's been a top end forward for Harvard for two years in a row now. The guy is either in the NHL this year if he signs with the Predators once he's done with his season, or he's in the NHL next year with another team. Either way, the guy is knocking at the door and should be a decent contributor soon enough. Very happy with that one.

106th overall pick - Colton Parayko : What a gem. I must brag and say I knew he was something special. I thought he had legit top 4 potential as a big guy who can skate. But he's already that and beyond. I didn't expect him to have such an impact so early. 29 pts in 70 games and + 21 as a rookie defenseman in the NHL is more than impressive. In the 4th round? I'll take it. Absolute stud.

136th overall pick - Esa Lindell : Lindell has played most of the year in the AHL, producing very well and was even a call-up for the Stars at some point. In his first season in America after being the dman of the year in the Liiga at 20 years old last year, Lindell has 36 points through 63 AHL games and is a +8.  We're confident he will make the Stars next season and are happy with the pick to say the least. 

166th overall pick - Brandon Hickey : Hickey's been the only pick where we ask ourselves if we made the right choice. He's had a very average season at BC with 8 points only in 35 games, whereas he had 17 points last year as a freshman. He wasn't all that good at the WJC either for Team Canada. We believe his brain is made of bricks and he can't think the game that well, which may not let him become a top 4 dman in the NHL or even a third pairing guy. He's still a pretty decent prospect and time will tell.

197th overall pick : Jake Walman : Jake Walman has probably been the best offensive dman in the NCAA this season as a sophomore, and we're extremely surprised and happy about it. 28 points in 27 games was totally unexpected from us. We do not believe he has an elite offensive game, but it's fun to see that he may be able to chip in some points at the NHL level too. He's been the quarterback for Providence College this year and it's sad that he was injured quite a bit this season because he's been very impressive in our eyes in Colorado. He probably has another year in the NCAA before translating to the AHL for the Blues. Should become a decent two-way 2nd pairing d at some point for us, but with the developments of Parayko, Orlov and a few others, he can take his time.

Overall, the Avs are extremely pleased with their draft. You can notice a trend where the Avs like to pick from the NCAA a lot and there is a reason behind that : Most of those guys are just underrated in general compared to CHL guys in my opinion. Most of the time they are the better players available and we do not hesitate to pick em in Colorado. 

The Avs needed to score on that draft, though, because this year, they are lacking their first rounder and their fourth rounder. GM Michaud is confident he may be able to recover a late pick or two in the off-season, but it's yet to be done.