Ilya Nabokov is the kind of prospect who can force a team to rethink the board in a hurry.
The Avalanche still seem likely to open the season with the 23-year-old in the AHL, but the buzz around him is real enough to make the crease one of the more interesting situations in Colorado. Nabokov is being talked about as the best prospect to hit the team this season, and if he comes in looking NHL-ready, the Avalanche could have some decisions to make sooner than expected.
Scott Wedgewood sits right at the center of that conversation. The 34-year-old is in the final year of his deal and is set to become a UFA.
He’s also a fan favorite, and the idea of keeping him around would make sense if both sides want it. But Nabokov changes the math if he’s good enough to leapfrog the usual development path.
From a cap standpoint, that would be a clean solution. The Avalanche need to save space where they can, and choosing Nabokov over Wedgewood would fit that approach.
Nabokov will need a new contract next summer, but it’s difficult to picture that number climbing above Wedgewood’s current $2.5 million cap hit. That kind of cost control matters even more with Cale Makar’s monster extension on the horizon.
MacKenzie Blackwood adds another layer.
Colorado has Blackwood under contract for four more seasons at $5.25 million against the cap, and that’s manageable as long as he performs. But if Blackwood doesn’t separate himself and Nabokov turns into something special, the Avalanche could be looking at a very different future in goal. Nabokov might become good enough to make Blackwood expendable, which raises the obvious question: would Colorado explore a move?
A Nabokov-Wedgewood tandem is at least a possibility, even if it feels like a wild one right now. It all comes back to the same point: Nabokov has to prove it first.
The Avalanche aren’t in a desperate spot financially. There’s room to absorb Makar’s new deal, and next summer’s free-agent picture is fairly manageable.
Still, a homegrown goalie who forces real roster decisions would be a major development. Colorado hasn’t had a prospect in net this intriguing in a long time, and if Nabokov flashes in a big way, the Avalanche may decide to cash in on Blackwood in a goalie-starved market.
Blackwood also has a six-team no-trade list, which doesn’t make him immovable. For now, the most likely outcome is Nabokov beginning the year in the AHL. But if an injury creates an opening, that could be enough for him to grab the job and make the Avalanche think twice about their plans.
In Other News...
Avalanche Suddenly Have A Win-Now Decision With A Proven Scorer
Chris Kreider is back on the market, and the timing immediately puts the Avalanche in a familiar kind of spotlight. After mutually terminating his deal with the Ducks, the veteran scorer is headed toward free agency, and while his preference has been to land with an East Coast club, Colorado is among the teams weighing whether to get involved. For an Avalanche team always balancing urgency against roster math, a player with Kreiders track record is the sort of name that forces a real conversation.
The challenge, of course, is fitting a proven finisher into a cap picture that does not leave much room for easy additions. Colorado is evaluating whether the structure of a possible deal could make sense, but any serious pursuit would ripple through the roster and force the front office to make choices about how far it wants to push for now. Kreider may have a preferred destination, yet the Avalanche are at least close enough to the front of the line to make this one worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Roster Watch Just Got More Interesting As Camp Nears
The NHL media tour is underway, and Gabe Landeskog is front and center for the Colorado Avalanche as camp creeps closer. It is the kind of late-summer stretch when roster chatter starts to matter again, and around the league there is already no shortage of storyline fodder, from contract talks to sudden openings created by moves elsewhere.
Quinn Hughes added another wrinkle by saying he is not feeling pressure to rush his negotiations with the Minnesota Wild, while Chris Kreider is back on the market after mutually ending his deal with the Anaheim Ducks. Kreider is said to be looking toward an Eastern destination, with his old team in New York not seen as a likely landing spot, and those kinds of twists are the sort that can keep an Avalanche watch list a little more crowded than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Former Avalanche First Rounder Just Revived A Familiar Colorado Debate
Tyson Jost is getting another crack at an NHL roster spot, this time on a Professional Tryout Agreement with the Nashville Predators as training camp opens. For a player once taken in the first round by the Avalanche, it is the latest stop in a career that has already stretched across several teams and 564 regular-season games, a reminder of how much promise, patience and persistence can shape a long NHL path.
For Colorado fans, Josts next step inevitably brings back an old conversation about draft pedigree and what a team is really buying when it spends premium capital on a young player. He is now trying to turn a camp invitation into a contract in Nashville, leaving the familiar Avalanche debate right where it has lingered for years - in the space between what was expected and what actually developed. [Read more 🡒]