Avalanche add skilled Russian forward to prospect pipeline

The Colorado Avalanche signed forward Igor Shvyrev to a three-year entry-level contract set to begin in the 2018-19 season.

The 19-year-old Russian center was Colorado’s fifth-round selection (125th overall) in the NHL Draft last year and was largely an unknown on draft day. The talk around Shvyrev was his skill level far exceeded his draft slot but there were legitimate concerns he would never come to North America to play. The Avalanche felt compelled enough by Shvyrev’s talent to take a chance on him at the top of the fifth round with hopes that their strong Russian pipeline would help convince Shvyrev to leave the comfortable confines of Russia.

While Shvyrev scored just one point in 32 KHL games this past season for Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the totals are very misleading as he regularly played less than a minute in games. As a young player in the KHL, it can take time to earn the trust of a coaching staff and his experience was not uncommon. Every time they sent him down to their farm team in the MHL, Shvyrev showed why he was coveted by the Avalanche and viewed as a potential second-round talent. He scored 17 points (5g, 12a) in just 10 games in the MHL, continuing his mastery of the league.

Where Shvyrev fits into Colorado’s plans is where this story takes an interesting turn. He’s another talented center for an organization that already has too many in the NHL. He will likely report to Loveland and be with the Eagles to start the season. Given the lessons learned from the failed Andrei Mironov experiment this past season, it’s fair to expect the Avalanche to approach this situation a little bit differently. Shvyrev also isn’t coming off an established KHL career so his approach to learning in the AHL and growing as a player should be more on the positive side than it was with Mironov, who had previously been a KHL All-Star before coming to Colorado.

With the signings of Shvyrev and goaltender Pavel Francouz, the Avalanche have been busy early on in the offseason in putting the Eagles in a position to be more successful than most of Colorado’s previous AHL teams.

For a refresher on Shvyrev, here’s his draft year highlight reel: