Colorado is taking a swing on two former Bruins forwards, and the bet says as much about the Avalanche’s development philosophy as it does about Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell.
In a matter of weeks, Colorado brought in both players after Boston decided to move in another direction. The Avalanche saw something worth chasing in each of them, continuing a pattern the organization has leaned on before: find talent that stalled somewhere else, drop it into a new setting and see whether the next version of the player shows up.
Lysell is the bigger upside play. Boston picked him 21st overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, drawn to the kind of tools teams dream on in a scoring winger - elite skating, puck creativity and the ability to manufacture chances on his own.
The talent was never the question. Getting it to show up consistently was.
Most of his pro work came in Providence, where he became a useful AHL scorer but never forced his way into a lasting NHL role with the Bruins. He closed last season with 42 points in 57 games as Providence posted the league’s best regular-season record, but that still fell short of the breakthrough Boston wanted.
When the Bruins dealt him to Colorado for Ivan Ivan, general manager Don Sweeney was blunt about where things stood.
"He hasn't fully grasped at the NHL level what it probably requires to play each and every night," Sweeney said. "He took ownership of that today."
He also added, "We took ownership that, could we have done more and better in supporting him? Probably."
That matters. Development is never just about the player, and Boston’s comments made clear the organization believed it may not have done enough to put Lysell in the best position to succeed.
Merkulov’s path was different, but the ending in Boston was similar.
He came over from Russia and had to work his way through the USHL and NCAA before becoming one of Providence’s most dangerous offensive threats. Once he settled into the AHL, the numbers came fast: 55 points in his first full season, then 65 the next year.
The issue was never whether he could score. Boston wanted more than that. At 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, Merkulov had to show he could help in every area - away from the puck, in the defensive zone and through the physical grind of pro hockey.
Providence coach Ryan Mougenel pushed him through that process, and by the 2025-26 season Merkulov had become one of the team’s most reliable all-around forwards as the Bruins finished with the AHL’s best record. Even so, by then he was 25 and no longer being treated like a prospect. Boston had younger players coming and chose to move on.
Colorado was willing to step in.
That kind of move fits the Avalanche’s history. Andre Burakovsky arrived from Washington after struggling to find consistency and became a major piece of Colorado’s Stanley Cup team. Valeri Nichushkin came in after his career in Dallas had stalled, and Colorado helped turn him into one of the NHL’s best two-way forwards.
The common thread is obvious: the Avalanche care less about what a player has already been and more about what he might still become.
Lysell and Merkulov fit that mold. Lysell offers the higher ceiling if Colorado can help him turn his speed and skill into dependable NHL production. Merkulov brings a different value, with experience, offense and the kind of versatility that can help either at the NHL level or as one of the veteran voices for the Colorado Eagles.
That AHL piece is part of the appeal, too. Colorado lost several experienced players from its minor-league roster this offseason, and Merkulov can help replace that production while also showing younger prospects what pro habits look like.
If Lysell and Merkulov wind up together in the AHL, the Eagles could have a ready-made offensive duo that already knows how the other thinks. For Colorado, that’s the point of the gamble: a fresh start, a new environment and the hope that Boston let go of two players who still have more to give.
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