Avalanche Take Two First-Rounders Tonight

Avs get center, D-man with 27th, 31st picks

I’m the wrong guy to read when it comes to the NHL draft, for any picks beyond, say, the top one or so. I don’t ever get to watch any junior hockey, don’t watch college hockey unless I’m paid to do so and don’t watch any hockey from overseas. I have a hard enough time keeping tabs on one team, and just don’t really have any big interest in players until I see them at the NHL level, in person or on TV a lot.

I’m also the wrong guy to read if you want cheerleading about a team’s draft. Cheerleading - or “bonding with the community” - has become omnipresent in local sports media today. I’ve always admitted I care about the Avs and have rooted for them to win plenty of times, but I’m not going to put on a team jersey or lift the Stanley Cup over my head like I was part of the team or stand in the middle of the street waving a frigging team flag, like some in the Denver sports media did recently when the Nuggets won it all. (Cancel those Edward R. Murrow Award dreams, guys and gals).

When it comes to the Avalanche draft history, I’ve seen and heard it all. I’ve heard and written about players taken that the Avs were “shocked” were still available at their selection. I’ve heard it all about their “upside” and their “compete level” and, gosh, what a steal it was that they got this guy or that guy.

For many, many of those players I wrote virtual love letters about from the draft to Avs fans, they never even played in the NHL. Or, they only had cups of coffee with the Avs or any other NHL team. Let me list a few first-round picks of the Avs over the years, all of whom the team said wonderful things about and couldn’t believe they were still on the board and yadda yadda yadda: Martin Kaut, Tyson Jost, Connor Bleakley, Duncan Siemens, Joey Hishon, Jonas Johansson, Vaclav Nedorost, Mikhail Kuleshov, Kevin Grimes, Peter Ratchuk, Marc Denis. Lots and lots of second-rounders who the team couldn’t believe were still available too, who you’ve long forgotten about and never saw play much.