Draft Order Officially Finalized For Avalanche, NHL

With all their moves over the last few years to help the NHL roster, the Colorado Avalanche have not given their amateur scouts much to work with in terms of draft picks.

That isn’t changing this season.

On Thursday, the NHL finalized the draft order for the 2023 NHL Draft, a draft where Colorado will pick just four times.

The big pick will come at 27th overall, as Colorado is slated (as of now) to make a selection in round one for the first time since 2021. There’s always a chance they move the pick for immediate help, or trade down to pick up more selections, but that’s where they’re set to pick.

After that, there will be a long wait for the scouts. The Avalanche don’t own any picks in rounds 2-4. They’ll pick in round 5 (155), round 6 (187), and round 7 (219).

So as of right now, it’ll be another light year at the draft for Colorado. That doesn’t mean we’re taking it lightly, however.

I had a long chat today with the Director of Scouting from Hockey Prospect, Jerome Berube, and will be posting plenty from that interview in the near future. We spoke on a variety of things, including some names Avalanche fans should keep an eye on in round one, scouting goaltenders, the draft in general, and plenty more. In addition, I’ll have more detail on some of the Swedish players that could be of interest to Colorado at pick 27, courtesy of a Swedish Hockey League scout.

Look for all of that in the near future at CHN, as are now less than two weeks from the NHL Draft.