The good has tended to outweigh the bad for the Avalanche, especially at the top of the draft where you must hit on your picks. For the most part, they’ve done that, but who was their best selection of all-time? And who was their worst?
To keep things simple, we’ll stick with picks strictly made by the organization since it moved to Colorado in 1995, which means stars like Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk won’t be there since they were drafted by the Quebec Nordiques.
Ten best Avalanche draft picks of all-time
10. Radim Vrbata, No. 212 overall in 1999
His time in Colorado was brief, as he played only two seasons for the Avalanche, but a nearly 20-year career saw him play over 1,000 games in the NHL. That’s rare for a seventh-round pick.
9. Tyson Barrie, No. 64 overall in 2009
Undersized but a remarkably effective power-play quarterback in the NHL for over a decade. He was a big part of the Avalanche turning things around after the ugly 2016-17 season, as his best season came the following season when the team snuck into the playoffs. When Cale Makar arrived, the Avalanche dealt Barrie for Nazem Kadri, who was huge for the team in 2022.
8. Paul Stastny, No. 44 overall in 2005
He burst onto the scene with a 20-game point streak during his rookie season, and, if not for some guy named Evgeni Malkin, could have won the Calder Trophy in 2007. His career in Colorado was up and down before he left as a free agent in 2014, but he finished his career with over 1,100 games and 822 points.
7. John-Michael Liles, No. 159 overall in 2000
It has disappeared over the last 15 years, but the Avalanche used to have a knack for finding talent late in the draft. Liles was a real find in the fifth round, as he was a consistent point producer from the back end in seven seasons in Colorado. Since his career ended, he’s become an integral part of the Avalanche Alumni and is now an analyst for the team on Altitude.
6. Ryan O’Reilly, No. 33 overall in 2009
Second-round picks making the NHL months after being selected is rare, but O’Reilly pulled it off with the Avalanche. Through hard work and determination, he kept getting better and better as a player. A contract dispute led to him signing an offer sheet in Calgary, which was the beginning of the end of his time in Colorado. The manner in which his Denver days ended will always be a disappointment, but he has over 1,000 career games under his belt, a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smyth and a Selke trophy. Not bad.
5. Mikko Rantanen, No. 10 overall in 2015
The 2015 NHL draft will go down as one of the best drafts in league history, and the Avalanche struck gold with Rantanen. He has more career points than the five players selected immediately after him combined and was an integral part of the 2022 championship team. The ending was messy, but there’s no denying his talent and the impact he had. It might be a while before someone breaks his single-season franchise goal scoring record.
4. Alex Tanguay, No. 12 overall in 1998
The Avalanche had four first-round picks in 1998, and the first was their best in Tanguay. In 598 games with the franchise, he picked up 488 points. Teams knew Tanguay wasn’t looking to shoot, but it didn’t matter. If there was an opening for a pass, even a tiny one, he would find it. Was he a better player than Mikko Rantanen? Probably not. So why is he above the Finn in the rankings? Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final. Enough said.
3. Gabriel Landeskog, No. 2 overall in 2011
There were some questions as to whether Landeskog’s skill would translate to the NHL level, as he was bigger and stronger than everyone he bullied in the Ontario Hockey League. It translated immediately, as he took home the Calder Trophy less than a year after being taken by the Avalanche. As a 19-year-old he became, at the time, the youngest captain in NHL history and has been the heart and soul of the franchise since.
2. Cale Makar, No. 4 overall in 2017
The dismal 2016-17 season was made worse by the Avalanche losing the draft lottery and dropping from the No. 1 pick to the fourth. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as they were able to select Makar, a future Hall of Famer. It was a risky pick as the Calgary native was playing in what many would consider an inferior league in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, but the Avalanche bet on his talent. Turns out that was a great bet to make.
1. Nathan MacKinnon, No. 1 overall in 2013
If you get the first pick, you better get it right. The Avalanche did in 2013, although MacKinnon was not the consensus top pick at the time. Some pundits thought the Avalanche should take defenseman Seth Jones, while Colorado’s scouts loved Aleksander Barkov. Barkov wouldn’t have been a bad selection, but Patrick Roy put his foot down and made sure the Avalanche took MacKinnon, who has become a superstar and helped lead the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in 2022. There's a real chance he passes Sakic as the franchise's all-time points leader before the 29-year-old's career is over.
Worst Avalanche picks of all-time
5. Martin Kaut, No. 16 overall in 2018
After an impressive nine-game NHL stint in 2020, it seemed like Kaut would quickly become a regular in Colorado. That never happened, as entitlement seemed to be an issue with the Czech forward who felt he deserved more opportunity. He was dealt to San Jose in 2023 and has since returned to Europe.
4. Jonas Johansson, No. 28 overall in 2002
A first-round pick who played just one NHL game in his career. That game wasn’t with the Avalanche, who dealt him and Bates Battaglia for Steve Konowalchuk. At least they got some value out of that one.
3. Mitchell Heard, No. 41 overall in 2012
Colorado used its top pick in 2012 to draft an overage player from the Ontario Hockey League who wasn’t a high-end point producer. The pick didn’t work out, as Heard never became more than an ECHL regular.
2. Duncan Siemens, No. 11 overall in 2011
Gabriel Landeskog was a slam-dunk pick at No. 2 overall, but Siemens at No. 11? Not so much. Siemens played just 20 NHL games and was the only top-15 pick from the draft to play fewer than 175. In fact, 12 of the 15 top picks from that class have played over 600 games. Two picks at the top of the draft could have rebuilt the franchise pretty quickly, but this miss delayed that rebuild a little longer.
1. Connor Bleackley, No. 23 overall in 2014
It’s never a good sign when your top pick shows up to training camp a few months later out of shape. The Bleackley pick was disastrous, as he was so bad the Avalanche could not reward him with an NHL contract. That never happens with first-round picks. His rights were dealt away for very little and he spent most of his career in the ECHL, never sniffing the NHL. What stings even more about this pick is that David Pastrnak, one of the top players in the NHL, was taken just two picks later. Even Jared McCann, taken right after Bleackley, has had a solid career.
