Avalanche Draft History at No. 25 Overall

The Colorado Avalanche enters the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft with the 25th overall pick for the fourth time in franchise history and will be selecting from that spot for the first time in more than 20 years.
Each of the Avs' three previous picks in the 25th spot have come since the team moved to Denver from Quebec City in 1995. In fact, the first-ever draft pick that the then-unnamed Colorado franchise made came at this position when head scout Dave Draper announced goaltender Marc Denis as the organization's choice at the Edmonton Coliseum on July 5, 1995.

Joining Denis on the Avs' all-time draft list at No. 25 includes defenseman Peter Ratchuk in 1996 and forward Mikhail Kuleshov in 1999. This year's pick is Colorado's latest first-round selection since choosing Jonas Johansson at No. 28 overall in the 2002 entry draft.
Marc Denis was drafted out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and took a brief pause with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens during his final major-junior campaign in 1996-97 to make his NHL debut with the Avalanche on Dec. 7 of that season. He returned to Chicoutimi to close out his junior career before appearing in four American Hockey League playoff games and winning the 1997 Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears, Colorado's minor-league affiliate at the time.

The Montreal, Quebec, native spent three more seasons in the Avalanche's farm system, appearing in four NHL outings in 1998-99 before serving as Patrick Roy's backup netminder in 1999-00. Denis posted a 10-10-4 record, 2.55 goals-against average and .916 save percentage in 28 games played in his Colorado career.
Following his time with the Avs organization, he spent five seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and two more with the Tampa Bay Lightning after being traded in summer 2006. He suited up in one game with his hometown franchise, the Montreal Canadiens, in 2008-09 prior to announcing his retirement.
Denis is currently an analyst for French-speaking sports television RDS in Canada.
The Avalanche chose Peter Ratchuk in 1996 following his senior season with Shattuck St. Mary's prep school--the same one that Nathan MacKinnon attended before playing major-junior hockey--but the defenseman never played for Colorado. Following a year of college hockey with Bowling Green State University and a season with the Hull Olympiques in the QMJHL, Ratchuk signed as a free agent with the Florida Panthers in 1998.
Ratchuk played 32 NHL games over three seasons with the Panthers before competing in the AHL exclusively from 2001-2003. He then went to Germany where he played six of his next seven campaigns before retiring following a stint with Klagenfurter AC in Austria in 2010-11.
The Buffalo, New York, native has spent the past nine seasons as a scout for the Winnipeg Jets, including as the Director of Professional Scouting in 2019-20.
Mikhail Kuleshov was drafted by the Avs in 1999 after playing in the Severstal Cherepovets system in Russia, but he didn't make his way to North American until the end of the 2000-01 campaign when he skated in three regular-season contests late in the year and 11 playoff outings with the Hershey Bears.

The Perm, Russia, native spent the next three seasons playing with Colorado's farm team in Hershey, appearing in 192 games and compiling 19 goals and 30 assists for 49 points in that time. Kuleshov made his NHL debut with the Avs on Feb. 20, 2004 and appeared in two more NHL contests in 2003-04. After that season, he returned to Europe and played another year in Russia before closing his career as a league champion in Belarus.
Among some current players who were picked at No. 25 overall in the draft include Montreal's Ryan Poehling (2017), Winnipeg's Jack Roslovic (2015), Boston's David Pastrnak (2014) and Dallas' Andrew Cogliano (selected by Edmonton in 2005).
Round 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft begins Tuesday at 5 p.m. MT, while Rounds 2-7 are on Wednesday starting at 9:30 a.m. MT.