avalanche news
Avalanche Sign Top Prospect From The NCAA Champs
The question of whether or not the Colorado Avalanche can lure Sean Behrens away from the NCAA has been answered.
Behrens, Colorado’s second round pick back in 2021, has signed his three year entry-level contract with the Avalanche. That contract won’t begin until the 2024-25 season, but he will immediately head to the Colorado Eagles on an amateur tryout. The Eagles have two games remaining until the AHL playoffs begin, so it will be interesting to see how big of a role Behrens plays for them down the stretch.
The 21 year old defenseman just finished his Junior season at Denver University, and to say he’s a winner might be underselling it just a little bit. He played a big part of the Pioneers winning two out of the last three NCAA National Championships. This past season, he played most of the year on his off-side, pairing with future top 10 draft pick Zeev Buium. Those two were consistently matched up against the top players on opposing teams, and got the job done most nights.
Behrens is undersized at just 5’10”, but can move the puck really well and is very smart positionally. I’ve said it before, but he’s got a little bit of Devon Toews in his game. He’s not a very physical guy, which isn’t a surprise given his height, but his stick-work is fantastic. He’s also not afraid to put his body on the line, as he blocked a ton of shots this past season. His offensive numbers haven’t really improved all that much for the Pioneers, so there is a question of how much offense he’ll be able to provide at the next level.
It’s a big signing for the Avalanche, as Behrens could have gone back for his Senior season at DU. If he had done that, he could have easily become an unrestricted free agent next summer. That’s not a concern anymore.
Stay tuned to CHN for all your Avalanche updates, as we’re headed to Winnipeg tomorrow to cover the first two games of round one.
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He isn’t typically a very physical guy but don’t try to tell that to Macklin Celebrini 🙂
He may have saved his best hockey of the season for the last two rounds of the NCAA’s which is a really good sign. He also was fantastic in the NC game two seasons ago. Very happy the Avs were able to sign him so we didn’t get a repeat of Will Butcher.
With the way his contract is set up, is there any possibility he could play for the Avs during the playoffs? Seems like he would be a perfect fill-in for Girard if the latter has to miss any time. I know Cale was able to play in the playoffs right off his Frozen Four run, so was Behrens’ contract any different from that one? Regardless, after watching him play a lot this year (thanks ESPN+ and Hulu for showing so many DU games!), I’m super excited for what he can bring to this team. If he was like an inch… Read more »
No, he can’t play until next season.
Mentioning Behrens and Makar in the same sentence is beyond ridiculous. (and that is being kind) I don’t see Behrens as being anything more than a depth piece. He certainly isn’t going to beat out Toews or Girard at LD1 or LD2 and don’t see a role for him as a physical 5th or 6th defenseman. I saw multiple games of Behrens live at the US Developmental Program in his two seasons there and he never jumped out to me at all. Of course with guys like Luke Hughes and Lane Hutson around it would not be easy to. Behrens… Read more »
If he did play, it would take an entire year off his ELC. Makar used that as leverage. As did Gauthier with the Ducks and Nazar with Hawks this year. Behrens doesn’t carry that kind of weight as he is probably not even going to make club out of camp next year.
Do you think behrens or malinski will start next year. I assume one of the dmen will be traded due to cap crunch even if landy comes back or not.
If Behrens & Kovakenko can come into camp next season & win jobs & be productive everyday NHL’ers that’s huge. Now if Ritchie can too, which is less likely. That has huge cap ramifications for a team that needs every bit of relief they can find.
Ritchie being able to snag the the 3C position would give the Avs some options. If they can’t resign Drouin (which I hope they do) Colton could move to wing in the middle 6 which might be a better fit for him.
Everything will depend on whether Landeskog returns or not. If he does, here is a possible lineup (with their cost), just to get under the cap.
Lehkonen(4.5)-MacKinnon(12.6)-Rantanen(9.25)
Landeskog(7.0)-Mittelstadt(2.6)-Nichushkin(6.125)
Colton(4.0)-Ritchie(.9)-Kovalenko(.9)
Wood(2.5)-Trenin(1.7)-O’Connor(1.05)
Toews(7.25)-Makar(9.0)
Girard(5.0)-Manson(4.5)
Jones(.8)-Malinski(.85)
Georgiev(3.4)
Annunen(.84)
Total $84.65 million.
That total assumes that Trenin and Jones re-sign at their current pay and that Ritchie ELC is for $900k. That leaves the Avs around $3 million to give Mittelstadt a raise, another 3rd line d-man, or any extra players above the minimum 20.