The Colorado Avalanche may have another reclamation project on their hands, and this one comes with a familiar kind of upside.
Back in 2019, the Avalanche rolled the dice on Valeri Nichushkin, a former No. 10 overall pick who had already picked up the dreaded “bust” tag after Dallas moved on. Colorado signed him to a one-year, $850K deal ahead of the 2019-20 season, and what looked like a low-risk bet eventually turned into a major win. Nichushkin spent a while in and out of the lineup before breaking through in the 2021-22 season, then became a key piece in the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup run in the 2022 postseason.
That history makes Fabian Lysell an interesting name to watch now.
Like Nichushkin before him, Lysell arrives with his stock well below where it once was. Boston moved him down its depth chart and eventually traded the former first-round pick to Colorado for Ivan Ivan. That kind of swap says plenty about where Lysell stood in the Bruins’ eyes, even if Ivan is a useful player in his own right.
Still, the Avalanche appear to believe there’s something left to unlock.
Lysell is 23, and his time in Boston never really gave him a real runway. He appeared in 12 games during the 2024-25 season and finished with one goal and three points. After that, he spent all of last season in Providence, where he put up 17 goals and 42 points in 57 AHL games.
Those numbers don’t scream finished product. They do, however, suggest there’s more in the tank.
The challenge now is less about proving he has NHL-level skill and more about finding a place to show it. Colorado’s roster is crowded, and that makes the path to meaningful minutes tricky.
If Lysell turns heads in camp this fall, the Avalanche could be faced with a real decision. He isn’t going to push anyone out of the top nine, but there may be room to carve out a spot on the fourth line.
He’s not a classic fourth-line grinder, though. He’s more of a player who can add some juice to the bottom six, and if he brings the kind of scoring touch Victor Oloffson provided in the first half of last season, he could make himself hard to ignore.
The most likely outcome is that Lysell begins the year in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles. At this point, he doesn’t look like a major waiver concern, and unless another team gets especially aggressive for depth, that’s probably where he starts.
From there, it becomes a waiting game. If the Avalanche really do see Nichushkin-like upside in Lysell, the next step is simply letting him stay ready until the door opens.
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Avalanche Face A Bigger Threat Than Their Current Title Chase
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That is where the next challenge begins for Joe Sakic. The Avalanche have not gotten enough immediate impact from recent draft classes, and several of those selections have yet to become meaningful pieces at the NHL level. With the 2027 first-round pick already moved and more prospects shipped out to help the present roster, Colorado has to do more than simply survive the title chase. It has to find a way to draft better, develop what it keeps and make sure the next competitive core does not arrive after this one has already passed. [Read more 🡒]