DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today the team has signed forward Georgii Merkulov to a one-year contract for the 2026-27 season.
Merkulov, 25, played one game for the Boston Bruins last season (0g/0a) and also recorded 61 points (24g/37a) in 70 games for the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins. He paced Providence in both assists and points, and ranked second in goals on a team that won the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy (AHL’s best record). Merkulov dressed in four Calder Cup Playoff contests in 2025-26 and chipped in one point (1g/0a).
A native of Ryazan, Russia, Merkulov has appeared in 11 career NHL games, all with Boston, from 2023-26 and has tallied one point which was an assist on Nov. 16, 2024. He’s also compiled 240 points (94g/146a) over 271 regular-season AHL games and has added five points (1g/4a) in 13 Calder Cup Playoff showings. The 5-foot-11, 174-pound forward represented Providence at the AHL All-Star Game in 2023-24 and was selected to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2022-23. Merkulov signed with Boston as a free agent on April 9, 2022 and has played all of his North American professional games with the Bruins' organization. He was teammates with Fabian Lysell, who the Avalanche acquired in a trade on June 27, 2026, since the 2022-23 campaign.
Prior to turning pro, Merkulov spent the 2021-22 season at Ohio State University and posted 34 points (20g/14a) in 36 contests, earning both Big Ten First All-Star Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. The year before that, he played for the United States Hockey League’s Youngstown Phantoms and collected 40 points (14g/26a) in 38 showings.
Merkulov made his professional debut in 2019-20 for HK Tambov in Eurasia’s second-highest pro league (VHL) and got in six contests that season. He also split that campaign by playing 10 games for Kapitan Stupino (1g/1a) in the Eurasia junior circuit and 36 showings for Youngstown (6g/27a) which was his first taste of North American hockey. Additional junior experience includes playing for Kapitan during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, in all giving him 61 points (27g/34a) across 108 MHL games.
