Colorado Avalanche: Looking Ahead To The 2010 NHL Draft

The Colorado Avalanche hold the 17th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, completely divergent of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in which they selected third overall.

However, because first and second-round selections Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly made the immediate jump to the NHL, the state of the Avalanche's prospect pool hasn't changed much: they could use some help in all areas.

The Avalanche only have one promising forward prospect who they used a pick in the first two rounds on, and that's Ryan Stoa. Stoa, a left wing, saw time with the Avalanche this season, and it's likely he'll become a regular next season.

It's possible late-round draft choices such a centers Justin Mercier or Mark Olver could eventually have an impact in the NHL, but the fact of the matter is the Avalanche have had too many failed draft choices in the early rounds of recent drafts (hello, Codey Burki).

Defensive prospects are by far the biggest (and only) area of depth in the Avalanche's prospect pool.

The Avalanche have drafted defensemen in both early rounds (Kevin Shattenkirk, Stefan Elliott) and later rounds (Joel Chouinard, Jonas Holos) who have by all indications continued to improve their play in their respective leagues. However, other than Jonas Holos, all of the defensemen in the system are offensive-first type players; they don't have a Scott Hannan or Aaron Miller type to add a defense first compliment to the offense.

There really are no Avalanche goaltending prospects.

Trevor Cann, taken in 2007, was pretty good in juniors, but his first season in the AHL was a mess, only winning three games. Peter Delmas, taken in 2008, has continued to get worse every season since being drafted, and has even been traded twice within the QMJHL.

It's a good thing the Avalanche traded up to get him.

The latest bust is Kiernan Millan, who after winning 29 games and the national championship as a freshman with the Boston University Terriers saw his GAA balloon (1.94 to 3.15), his wins condense (29 to 16), and his losses go eight-fold (two to 16).

It's obvious the Avalanche's cubbard is pretty bare of high-end talent, especially in goal, but this shouldn't persuade the Avalanche's management into trying to fill a need come draft day; taking the best player available is always the safest strategy because needs change fast.