The Avalanche have found a HIDDEN GEM...

After losing a well-beloved two-way forward, the Avs got a return that may not have seemed big enough, but Igor Shilov, our 43rd pick in the draft, may be a hidden gem. So the Avs got three different draft picks for the Nichushkin trade, only one of them coming this year being the second-round pick from Columbus, being the 43rd overall pick, as picked Igor Shilov. Shilov is a younger guy, still in college, 18 years old, and that's one thing that I think the Avs have been missing for a long time, has been young talent. I know we have Gavin Brinley, and Parker Kelly's not young, young, but he's younger, and Logan O'Connor's only in his mid-20s, but it feels like the last few years when the Avs have done really well, we've had a young talent to look forward to, whether that's in 2013 with Nathan McKinnon, or when we got Mikko Vrantinen, or when we got Makar. A lot of younger players have been really exciting, and the Avs have been seen as the young and fast team. Now, things have definitely flipped a switch now. The Avs are the third-oldest team with an average age of about 30.6. I think the only team that's older than them, I think LA is one of them, I don't know what the other one is, but LA is the oldest team in the league. So it's not a trend that I'm liking for the Avs that a bunch of players are older, and I'm hoping they can build up some of these younger players, because it feels like the younger players are having a lot harder time making the NHL roster over the last two or three seasons than they were in the seasons before. I know we weren't as good before, but I feel like these younger guys need more NHL time, otherwise they're never going to develop. And the Avs keep trading away prospects and getting back older players as well, and things just aren't ultimately panning out too great. Now, before we get into the rest of the video, I want to remind you, this video is brought to you by PrizeFix. PrizeFix play $5, get $50 instantly in lineups when you use code Digest using the link in the description. Thank you very much. Let's move on to the rest of the video, and we'll talk more about PrizeFix at the end. So, don't forget, before we get started, to subscribe and comment down below anything you want us to talk about. Thank you very much for always participating in our videos, and we appreciate it very much. So, here was posted by TheHockeyNews said, After acquiring the pick for the Valeriy Nachishkin trade, the Avs selected Igor Shilov, a dynamic offensive talent with the skill to become one of the biggest steals of the NHL draft, if Colorado can unlock his full potential. Now, that first sentence there talking about if they can unlock his full potential, I feel like that's something the Avs have not been able to do in at least a couple of seasons, and that's something that kind of concerns me. Gavin Brindley has had the longest leash of any of our young players have had in a long time. He was able to play a solid 40-ish, 50 games this last season, and he showed some promise. He also showed some downside as well, but the main thing that stood out to me was he was quick and a hard worker. I'd like to see a lot of these younger guys get built up in the Avs system, get time to play, put them on higher lines and practice, have them practice with the top guys, with McKinnon, with Landis God, with Kadri, with Nelson, have them practice with those guys so they can build a chemistry and understand exactly what they do and what they understand that helps them become greater, and it'll definitely drive these younger guys when they're given those opportunities to play with those guys that they idolize because you can't be a young guy in the NHL and not idolize some of these players that are ahead of you. Nathan McKinnon being a great, I mean, a lot of people say he's an aggressive leader, but I still think that's a really good leader. Landis God, the captain everyone wants to play for, he definitely could show the ropes. I know Shilov is still going to be in the NCAA, so he is not going to get the NHL time currently, but I'm speaking especially for these younger guys and these offseason signings the Avs have made for guys in their early to mid-20s like Lysel from the Bruins and a bunch of other guys. Parker Kelly, he's a little bit older now, but he's been a young guy who's actually shown up. He put up a 20-bomb last season when it comes to goals. He did a great job, but as part of the return, Colorado signed three future draft picks, including the second round, which got Shilov and the Avs selected him a 43rd overall. So Nichushkin went over to Columbus, is taking number 43 out of respect. I mean, they're not going to take, he's not going to take Johnny Guterres number, rest in peace, but Nichushkin, I think things are going to work out for him over there in Columbus. He's going to get a lot more important overall. I think he'll have an opportunity over there that he didn't have with the Avs because he definitely got shoved down with the Avs, especially because he wasn't performing to the best of his ability towards the end of the last, actually the second half of last season. First half of last season, he was pretty solid, but after we hit New Year's, it was not that great. Here are Igor Shilov's numbers. This is what it looks like when he was in the USHL, QMJHL and in 16UAAA. He seems to be a point per game kind of guy. And back when he was on the younger Russian teams, he was a two point per game kind of guy. And I like seeing that kind of talent from the younger guys in our lineup. I hope the Avs can capitalize on his talent when he eventually grows into an NHL caliber player. Now we're going to move on to the more recent news. The Avs just signed another player from Boston, Georgy Merkulov. Sorry if I pronounced that incorrectly. The Avs have signed a lot of players with difficult names as of late. Merkulov coming from Boston as well. A lot of players coming from Boston for the Avs this season. So he is 25 years old. He's a left shot center, 5'11", 174 pounds, taking an 850K cap hit for a one year contract. We'll see if he makes any impact this year. Teammates with Lysel, so maybe that'll help with having a teammate of his moved over to the same AHL team. I think our AHL team is going to be one to watch this season with a lot of new signees that are going to be proving themselves there and making moves to make the NHL roster. Here are his stats when he was just under a point per game in most of those seasons. 65 points in 67 games in that 23-24 season with the Providence Bruins was not that bad. Only has 11 games of NHL experience, only gotten one assist. Although in those 11 games, he probably did not see much ice time. So I don't know if he's going to make the Avs lineup at the end of the day, but he very well could. The fourth line of the Avalanche I think is very much up to debate and I feel like it's going to be changing a lot over the entirety of the season. I don't think we're going to have a set fourth line going into the playoffs. I think we're going to have three guys that we're pretty confident in, but if one of those guys goes down or if one of those guys starts underperforming, I could see them being shipped out as soon as things get bad. It's going to be hard finding three players that fit well together on that left center and right wing spot, but we'll see how it goes during the season. This is our list of Avs prospects right now. This is what we've got. Shilat Hamilton, Fischer, Carrier, Rode, Humphreys. Gulyaev being our Russian candidate, although he just signed that extra deal to stay in Russia for a little longer. So that's our completed list. I don't know everything about every player, but hopefully we can finally have prospect value that we can build up and make this team a little bit younger than 30 years old on average. I would love if the Avs can keep their speed. It's just the longer you keep the same guys, the older they're going to get and the less efficient they're going to become. Here, finally, looking at the full NHL roster right here, we have Leckman, McKinnon, Nechus at the top. Schwartz being put on the second line with Nelson Alandeskog. I think Nelson and Kadri are very iffy on who's going to be second line, who's going to be third line, but I think it's going to be interchangeable throughout the year. Kelly and Waugh around Kadri, Leroux, Svechkov, and O'Connor with Brindley and Juleson in the press box. Tejas Makar, Kulak-Molenski, Manson, Burns. It's the same D group as last season. And Wedgwood and Blackwood. I'd like to see a better season out of Blackwood. I know he did pretty good, but it was still injury-ridden and low 900 save percentage. I feel like Blackwood is a younger goalie. He's only 28 years old, 29. He's well within his prime of his career. He can definitely put up some elite numbers in net. Thank you very much for watching. Now, before we go, I want to tell you a little bit about price picks and what they've got going on right now. Play $5, get 50 instantly in lineups when you use code digest using the link in the description. The world cup is sadly over, but that doesn't mean the promotions are done. Check out the board for discounts on Tuesdays, Taco Tuesday. There are discounts on the board, different picks that you could possibly make at a discounted price. Now, there's other things going on. Check out flex Friday, get a protected pick or a boosted reward pick on a flex Friday lineup. Alrighty. That is all we have for you today. Don't forget to subscribe. So thank you very much. And we'll see you next time.