Avalanche Prospect Portfolio: Helleson heading to the Olympics

The winter break is officially over and hopefully with the last wave of COVID hopefully in the rearview for the most part, developmental leagues are getting back up and running again.

AHL:

Another solid win streak has finally pushed the Eagles up into the top half of the division. As is always the case for AHL team the roster remains in heavy flux with the implementation of the taxi squad by the NHL.

Justus Annunen – G

With Jonas Johansson being claimed on waivers and Hunter Miska operating as the Avs taxi squad goalie, Annunen is now the man up in Loveland. As the starter, his stats have been a bit sporadic but with good goal support, he has a 5 – 2 – 1 record since his NHL stint. The highs are still there with a shutout in late December and a 41-save shootout win just the other night, now it’s about smoothing out the consistency.

Europe:

Nils Aman – C (Leksands) round 6, pick 167, 2020

I think it’s now safe to say the chances of Aman getting an NHL deal with the Avs is now dead. What looked like him finding his offensive game at the pro level has completely disappeared as the season went on. Never say never with these Euros but if Aman wants to make the journey to North America it probably looks a lot more like the path Andreas Wingerli has taken.

OHL:

Oskar Olausson – RW (Oshawa Generals) round 1, pick 27, 2021

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for Olausson over the last few weeks. Heading to WJCs and picking up a few nice points only for the tournament to be completely canceled then heading back to the OHL to find it struggling with its own COVID issues and finding out he’s getting traded to Oshawa. A bit of an odd trade as Oshawa actually finds itself behind Barrie in the conference standings but perhaps so it remains to be seen how much of impact the trade has on Olausson’s quality of teammates and playoff opportunities.

NCAA:

Colby Ambrosio – C (Boston College) round 4, pick 118, 2020

A significant drop in production from Ambrosio with just three goals in his last seven games. The good news is that’s not a complete black hole of production and he has equaled his goal total from last season and surpassed his total points. His conversation is now shaping up towards a junior year that will likely determine if he earns an NHL contract or not.

Sean Behrens – D (Denver) round 2, pick 61, 2021

Much like Olausson, Behrens has been a bit all over the place over the last month. What looked like a good opportunity for him to make team USA for the WJCs was ended by his own bout with COVID only to see the entire tournament canceled anyway. Since he has returned to DU his production picked up right where it left off with three points in four games. Given his profile it’s hard to see him playing for the Avs anytime soon but if the Avs wanted they could sign him at the end of the year and see what it looks like in the AHL after that. However, my expectation is that he goes back for another year at DU.

Andrei Buyalsky – C (Vermont) round 3, pick 92, 2021

Buyalski remains out indefinitely, will likely remove him from future iterations of this until his return.

Drew Helleson – D (Boston College) round 2, pick 47, 2019

The Colorado Avalanche will officially be represented at the Olympics by at least Drew Helleson. With production floating in the neighborhood of a point per game, Helleson has surpassed expectations significantly and it’s safe to assume he will be signing his ELC very quickly after his NCAA season comes to an end. Unlike Behrens, Helleson seems like the perfect fit for the Avs defense in the near future, the question now is what does he look like at the next level? The Olympics could be a decent preview of that.

Nicky Leivermann – D (Notre Dame) round 7, pick 187, 2017

Genuinely happy to see Leivermann finally getting to spread his wings at Notre Dame. It would be a stretch to say there’s an NHL player in there at this point but never say never. If he wants to find a career in hockey at the minor league level after graduating it’s something he could likely do.

Taylor Makar – C (UMASS) round 7, pick 220, 2021

Makar seems to be getting into games a little bit more regularly in 2022 but his stat sheet still doesn’t have anything but PIMs to show for it. Not much to say here.

Matt Stienburg – C (Cornell) round 3, pick 63, 2019

Stienburg finally saw his point streak come to an end at 11 games but I think you can already pen him in for the most improved prospect award. Stienburg’s play earned player of the month in the ECAC and has helped propel Cornell to a top-10 ranked team in the NCAA. Unfortunately, he did not dress for Cornell over the weekend while no official injury has been given, per Aaron Snyder of the Cornell Sun, Associate Coach Ben Syer said Stienburg is “getting better” and has been at the rink.

Tyler Weiss – C (University of Omaha Nebraska) round 4, pick 109, 2020

Weiss knows exactly how to keep me on the fence. Just as I was starting to think he could be peeking back into the ELC picture with the Avs he hits a five-game pointless stretch. While that’s not a disaster he needs to eke out every inch that he can if he wants an ELC and a legitimate shot.

Russia:

Nikolai Kovalenko – RW (Ak Bars Kazan) round 6, pick 171, 2018

Kovalenko finally returned from injury in late December and picked up more or less where he left off: Playing 16-17 minutes a night and providing decent scoring and significant shot totals along with a consistent physical presence. You know the drill here, it’s a holding pattern until talks of coming over to NA pick back up.

Shamil Shmakov – G (Toros Neftekamsk) round 7, pick 202, 2018

He still exists, his numbers are still reasonable, and his future is still uncertain but safe to say it’s not going to be in North America.

Daniil Zhuravlyov – D (Ak Bars Kazan) round 5, pick 146, 2018

Z’s lack of production has continued into the new year and at this point his TOI has settled in under 15 minutes on average. His failure to improve on last season in any tangible way is disheartening. For a Russian player, he hasn’t done enough to make the jump straight to the NHL if he wants to come over which could complicate things.