Avalanche Prospect Portfolio: Olausson Operating in Oshawa

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.

Prospect of the Week:

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

After an adjustment period with Oshawa Olausson has gotten back to what he does best with two hat-tricks in the last ten days. With per-game shot totals regularly reaching above five Oshawa has given him the green light to go bombs away every single night. Oshawa, in general (heh), has been a middling team this year and their hopes of going far in the playoffs aren’t great but we’ll see if Olausson can help them win a round or two when the time comes.

Europe:

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

With one month left in the SHL season, Leksands is squarely in the middle of the league, chances of relegation are basically zero but they are on the fringes of the playoff picture. Aman has continued playing a third-line role but the production just isn’t there to provide any excitement for a future role in North America.

NCAA:

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

Ambrosio has settled into a decent pace in mid-February. While you would like to see just a touch more consistency on the scoring side he should be able to break the ten-goal barrier and put together a solid season on a BC team that has been a bit of a disaster since the start of 2022. While there’s no rush to get him into the fold, Ambrosio has set himself up to earn a contract in his Junior year if he continues to take steps forward.

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

While the most important defensive prospect in the Avs system remains Justin Barron, you can at least make the argument for Sean Behrens now. The only freshmen defensemen outproducing him are top five picks in Power and Hughes showing just how much of a steal Behrens may be. He has shown remarkable consistency going three games without a point only once this entire season. He is starting to push into territory where you could consider giving him a contract this offseason but ultimately I expect him to go back to DU for his sophomore year and continue to dominate the NCAA. Check him out doing his best Cale Makar impression on this goal:

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

Finally back from the Olympics, Helleson is back to playing his big role on the BC blue line. Helleson was used as a depth defenseman by team USA getting just 8 minutes per game. He did manage to pick up one assist and I’m sure it was a great experience for him despite USA being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Helleson’s trajectory remains unchanged, expect him to sign a contract with the Avs when his season ends and potentially join the Colorado Eagles down the stretch.

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

The real victory here is that I am now less than a month away from never having to watch Notre Dame hockey again, at least until the Avs draft another ND commit. Leivermann winds down his collegiate career as a solid offensive defenseman on a good but not great team. His game never quite got to the level you were hoping it would which as a seventh-round pick is no surprise. He will likely be little more than some extremely obscure trivia to Avs fans in the future.

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

Makar has officially scored his first collegiate goal. I’m happy for him.

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

The biggest riser of the season in the Avs prospect pool, Stienburg has seen his pace slow down from NCAA leading to just a solid point per game as the NCAA regular season winds down. While the multi-point games have fallen to the wayside it’s good to see him putting the puck into the net consistently. This season has been a massive step in the right direction for Stienburg and with another big year next season, he could well earn himself a contract.

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

After a six-game pointless streak, Weiss hit the turbo and put up 11 points in his last 10 games. The Avs have plenty of contract space if they want to give him a contract. I’d do it just for the fun of it and since Weiss is 22 it would only be a 2-year ELC anyway. He’s still a good bit away from being an NHL player but he’s the type of player worth giving a shot in the AHL and then you see what happens.

Russia:

The KHL wrapped up their regular season in January and have been on hiatus for the Olympics with their playoffs scheduled to start on March first. For Nikolai Kovalenko and Danila Zhuravlyov, the AK Bars came third in their division and are the four seed in the eastern conference and should be reasonably favored in the first round. While decisions on their future don’t have much to do with this playoff run it’s always fun to watch hockey that matters.