The Colorado Avalanche added another forward to the pipeline on Friday, signing Georgii Merkulov to a one-year contract for the 2026-27 season.
Merkulov, 25, spent last season splitting time between Boston and Providence. He got into one game with the Bruins and didn’t record a point, then turned in a strong AHL season with the Providence Bruins, finishing with 61 points on 24 goals and 37 assists in 70 games. He led Providence in assists and points, and he was second on the club in goals as the team captured the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy for the AHL’s best record.
He also appeared in four Calder Cup Playoff games in 2025-26 and added one point, a goal.
The Ryazan, Russia native has logged 11 NHL games in his career, all with Boston from 2023-26, and his lone NHL point came on an assist Nov. 16, 2024. In the American Hockey League, he has piled up 240 points on 94 goals and 146 assists across 271 regular-season games, along with five points in 13 Calder Cup Playoff appearances.
Merkulov’s résumé also includes an AHL All-Star Game nod with Providence in 2023-24 and a spot on the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2022-23. Boston signed him as a free agent on April 9, 2022, and every one of his North American pro games has come in the Bruins organization. He also shared a locker room with Fabian Lysell, whom the Avalanche acquired in a trade on June 27, 2026, beginning in the 2022-23 season.
Before turning pro, Merkulov spent the 2021-22 season at Ohio State, where he put up 34 points in 36 games and earned both Big Ten First All-Star Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. The year before that, he played for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms and produced 40 points in 38 games.
His pro career actually started earlier, in 2019-20 with HK Tambov in the VHL, where he played six games. That season also included 10 games for Kapitan Stupino in the Eurasia junior circuit and 36 games for Youngstown, his first taste of North American hockey. He had earlier junior stops with Kapitan in 2017-18 and 2018-19, finishing with 61 points in 108 MHL games.
In Other News...
Former Avalanche Goalie Is Becoming Colorados Biggest What If
Justus Annunens path since leaving Colorado has started to look like the kind of goaltending arc that makes a front office wince a little harder in hindsight. Traded to Nashville during the 2024-25 season, the former Avalanche netminder had to fight through early struggles before settling in and showing the form that made him such an intriguing young piece in the first place.
By the time the 2025-26 season rolled around, Annunen had put together the best stretch of his NHL career, and the momentum carried onto the international stage when he took over as Finlands starter at the 2026 IIHF Mens World Championship. For Avalanche fans, it is the sort of development that keeps the old question alive: what if the organization had been able to hold onto him long enough to see where this was headed? [Read more 🡒]
Three Avalanche Stars Opposing Fans Absolutely Hate Facing
Opposing fans usually know the feeling before the puck even drops when Nathan MacKinnon, Josh Manson and Gabriel Landeskog are on the other side. MacKinnon brings the kind of speed and scoring touch that can tilt a game in a hurry, Manson supplies the hard-edged defensive presence that makes every shift uncomfortable, and Landeskog remains the steady voice and physical spark that has long helped define Colorados identity.
What makes that trio so irritating to face is that each one bothers opponents in a different way, yet all three feed the same Avalanche edge. MacKinnon can take over with pure skill, Manson can wear teams down through contact and structure, and Landeskog still gives Colorado a captains brand of toughness that resonates even after everything he has been through. Together, they give the Avalanche a mix of talent, bite and credibility that opposing crowds may hate, but cant ignore. [Read more 🡒]