Finding surplus value from players on entry-level contracts (ELCs) is crucial for efficiently using a limited resource while building a roster in the NHL’s salary cap era. The league’s salary cap rose by $4.5 million from the 2023-24 season (the first time since before the 2018-19 campaign), but uncovering value in free agency and from prospects remains a key objective for Stanley Cup contenders like the Colorado Avalanche.
Related: Colorado Avalanche Top 20 Prospects: Post-2024 NHL Draft
Though the Avalanche finished the 2023-24 season ranked eighth in the overall league standings, they could bolster their lineup with NHL-ready prospects as they navigate the Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin situations. Let’s identify and evaluate three such candidates from the Avalanche system which has rapidly improved as a prospect pool since the franchise won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Calum Ritchie, Center
Oshawa Generals (Ontario Hockey League/OHL): 50 Games Played (GP), 28 Goals (G), 52 Assists (A), 80 Points (PTS)
After tallying 110 points across 71 total regular-season and playoff games for the OHL finalist Oshawa Generals last season, there is little left for Calum Ritchie to prove in the junior ranks.
The biggest question when it comes to Ritchie – the Avalanche’s first-round pick in 2023 – is whether he is good enough right now to stick in the NHL. As per the NHL’s agreement with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), prospects drafted from one of the three leagues under the CHL’s purview, cannot be assigned to the American Hockey League (AHL) until they have either turned 20 years old or played four seasons in junior (at least 25 games played in each season). Ritchie will turn 20 in January, meaning his only legitimate pathway into the NHL is by making the team straight out of training camp.
Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt form a formidable one-two punch up the middle for the Avalanche, while Ross Colton thrived on Colorado’s third line. That only leaves the fourth-line center spot up for grabs, a role which may stifle Ritchie at this point in his development when playing as often as possible in favorable deployment should be the goal.
One look at the Seattle Kraken-Shane Wright situation should make the Avalanche wary of mishandling Ritchie’s development, but there isn’t anything wrong with giving him a nine-game tryout before sending him back to the Oshawa Generals. He is projected to be one of the top Canadian forwards for the 2025 World Junior Championship, and a brief NHL stint could function as a motivating taste of what’s to come.
Sean Behrens, Defenseman
University of Denver (National Collegiate Athletics Association/NCAA): 44 GP, 4 G, 27 A, 31 P
Sean Behrens may have had better odds of landing a full-time role with the Avalanche before the start of NHL free agency, even after accounting for the team’s fearsome blue line quartet of Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Samuel Girard, and Josh Manson.
After waving goodbye to Sean Walker and Jack Johnson, the Avalanche signed Calvin de Haan, Erik Brannstrom, and Oliver Kylington to one-year contracts. That’s without mentioning that Jacob MacDonald and Sam Malinksi – both of whom played NHL games last season – remain in the fold. Training camp should be a bloodbath as a result, with little room for the promising, but inexperienced Behrens.
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The situation is more due to a lack of opportunity, rather than one which speaks to Behrens’ ability, or lack thereof. The 21-year-old signed his ELC after winning the NCAA Championship with the University of Denver last season and was named the NCAA’s Defensive Defenseman of the Year. He played in two regular-season and playoff games with the Colorado Eagles, tallying a single assist for his first professional point.
Despite being obstructed by one of the deepest blue lines in the league, there is a world in which Behrens proves his worth in the AHL and forces himself into the Avalanche lineup by the end of the season. After all, Makar himself stepped straight into NHL playoff action following the end of his collegiate career and posted six points in 10 games as a 21-year-old rookie.
Behrens is not on the same level of Makar by any means, but the spring is a ways away and any number of injuries or poor play could vault the budding defender up the depth chart in short order.
Jean-Luc Foudy, Center/Left Wing
Colorado Eagles (AHL): 26 GP, 4 G, 10 A, 14 P
While Jean-Luc Foudy does not possess the same high-end ceiling as Ritchie, he is older, more experienced, and plays a style more suited for the fourth-line role that is likely to be available in training camp. He’s a smaller forward at 5-foot-11 and 177 pounds, but makes up for his lack of physicality with noticeable speed and shiftiness which help him draw penalties at an above-average rate while flashing his ability as an elusive puck-carrier in the minors.
Foudy has tallied 15 goals and 50 points over his last 72 AHL games and counts 13 NHL appearances (one goal) to his name ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, having represented the organization at the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic. The 22-year-old suffered a lower-body injury in training camp last season, sidelining him until January and halting the momentum of what could have otherwise been a full breakout season for the 2020 third-round pick.
While there is less certainty around who will assume the fourth-line center spot or other bottom-six roles, there is no shortage of competition. Foudy will compete with the likes of Chris Wagner, Ondrej Pavel, Parker Kelly, and Joel Kiviranta, most of whom possess more experience at the NHL level.
If Foudy can continue to develop his offensive game and demonstrate more consistency in all three zones, there is no reason he can’t claim an NHL job out of camp. If not, an extended stint in the AHL may be in the cards.
Avalanche’s Long-Term Future Looks Bright Despite Lack of Draft Picks
As contending teams trade away future draft capital to acquire reinforcements for the present day, their prospect pools understandably become shallow as prospects graduate and age out but are not replaced.
This trend has defined the Avalanche’s recent draft activity, though the 2024 Draft was a step in the right direction. They made more than five selections in a single draft for the first time since picking eight players in the 2019 edition, though they did not have a first-round pick.
The Avalanche may not have the depth or top-end quality of other pools, but several intriguing prospects are or will be knocking at the door in the near future and could do so as soon as the upcoming season.
