Deen’s Daily: Nabokov Will Be Loaned to KHL For a Year; Draft Combine Starts Monday

The Avalanche signed one of their top prospects to an entry-level contract. But it doesn’t sound like he’ll be joining the organization in 2025-26. Also, the NHL Draft Combine is inching closer, and it’s expected to be a big day in kickstarting the offseason

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — June 1.

Colorado Hockey Now

The Avalanche signed Ilya Nabokov to a two-year entry-level contract on Friday. The 22-year-old was Colorado’s top pick in the 2024 Draft — selected No. 38 overall after Chris MacFarland traded down from the first round.

It’s almost surreal to see how high the organization has been on Nabokov since selecting him. He’s got sparkling numbers in the KHL, and it looks like he’s got a good chance of translating that to NHL success.

But before he gets there, Nabokov will spend another year in the KHL. Evan Rawal of the Colorado Gazette has been all over this story since before the signing was announced. Rawal reported that Nabokov is slated to be loaned to the KHL for the 2025-26 season before making the jump to North America after the season (sometime in March or April).

He’ll likely join the AHL’s Colorado Eagles at that point if they’re still playing.

Check out the full story below.

Read More: Ilya Nabokov Signs Two-Year Entry-Level Contract With Avalanche

The annual NHL Draft Combine is coming up tomorrow. It runs from June 2-7 and will allow teams to meet, interview, and check out fitness tests for 90 of the top prospects in this year’s draft.

Furthermore, it’s an opportunity for all 32 general managers to talk trades as the busiest part of the offseason gets rolling in the coming weeks.

The Avs are set to pick in the fourth and seventh rounds of this year’s draft, meaning they likely won’t be doing much in terms of scouting (barring any trades).

But you can bet they’ll make the most of being there. MacFarland has some work to do this summer, and we’re all very much aware of how much this front office prefers trades over free agency as their key to building a roster.

Several agents will also be at the combine. Expect possible contract extensions to be a topic of conversation over the next five days, too.

Read More: 6 Trade Targets That Could Solve the Avalanche’s 2C Hole (+)

Around The NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Pittsburgh is one of the teams that has salary cap space to spare. There will be plenty of options available on the market.

Philadelphia Hockey Now: Why Cam York would benefit from a bridge deal.

NYI Hockey Now: Mathieu Darche is making the media rounds. One common theme of all his availabilities has been identifying the core he’d like to build around.

Florida Hockey Now: The Panthers are about to make history. This NHL record will be broken on Friday when they take on the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.