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Capsules of Avs five draft picks |
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Rick Sadowski
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The Avalanche added four players to the organization Wednesday on the second day of the NHL draft after selecting Halifax Mooseheads defenseman Justin Barron with their first-round pick (No. 25) on Tuesday.
The draft was done remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic, so that was unique.
"It did take longer than usual (about 7 1-2 hours), but so be it," Alan Hepple, the Avalanche's director of amateur scouting said. "The NHL did a great job and then the Avalanche people here did a great job with the technical stuff. I didn't know what to expect."
The 6-feet-2, 195-pound Barron, 18, was limited to 34 games because of a blood clot in his arm. He had 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) after getting 41 points (nine goals, 32 assists) in 68 games in 2018-19.
"If you told me we were going to get this guy at 25 I would've said you're crazy," Hepple said. "No way because of the way he played as an underage. The injury, I leaned on (trainer) Matt Sokolowski and the doctors, and they were fine with everything that went on. They had no problem with clearing him. I don't know if some teams got scared. He missed a lot of time, but we had a good book on him.
"When we got Justin Barron at 25 it made me feel like today was going to be a good day. Maybe getting that guy at 25 and not having a second-round pick and getting somebody that we really coveted kind of made up for not having a second-round pick."
They didn’t have a second-round selection, having traded it to acquire Andre Burakovsky from Washington on June 28, 2019. On Wednesday, they sent their fifth-round pick (No. 149) and seventh-round pick (No. 211) to Pittsburgh for the Penguins’ fifth rounder (No. 139); Washington wound up with the 211 pick.
The picks (all of whom are prospects for the future):
Third round (No. 75): Jean-Luc Foudy, 18, center, 5-11, 177 pounds. He had 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 59 games for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League last season. His brother, Liam Foudy, was Columbus’ first-round pick (No. 18) in 2018. Jean-Luc was arguably the fastest skater in the draft.
"All about speed, speed, speed," Hepple said. "He's great through the neutral zone with the puck, plays hard. It's all about his speed. He's got skill, his speed, he's got that calling card that will get him to the next level. We like playing fast, so he's going to fit in very easily."
Fourth round (No. 118): Colby Ambrosio, 18, center, 5-8, 170, Boston College freshman. Ambrosio had 50 points (26 goals, 24 assists) in 48 games for the Tri-City Storm of the U.S. Hockey League last season. He joins Avalanche prospects Alex Newhook and Drew Helleson at BC.
"All about speed and skill," Hepple said. "He can really shoot it. Going to BC, if he plays with Newhook it might be a good combination."
Fifth round (No. 139, from Pittsburgh): Ryder Rolston, 18, right wing, 6-1, 175, Notre Dame freshman after getting 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists) in 42 games for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL last season. Ryder is the son of former NHL player Brian Rolston, who played 50 games for the Avalanche in 1999-2000 before he was traded to Boston in the deal that brought Ray Bourque to Colorado.
"He's a big kid, he skates, works, he's hard to play against," Hepple said. "He's a character kid, (plays) up and down, kind of hard-nosed, can shoot the puck. Good bloodlines. We didn't want to lose him, so we thought the deal made sense."
Sixth round (No. 167): Nils Aman, 20, center, 6-2, 179. Is playing for Leksands IF in Sweden. He had a combined 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 30 games last season for Leksands IF’s Under-20 team, Karlskrona and Leksands in the Swedish Hockey League.
"He came on late a little bit," Hepple said. "An older guy that we think, give him two or three years over in Sweden he'd be coming over at a 22- or a 23 year-old. Big centerman, has skill, has sense, but he's a big guy. He got hurt last year going into the World Juniors and didn't make the team and now he's playing in the Swedish Elite League. It's all good on him."
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