Avalanche Picks Justus Annunen 64th overall

DALLAS--The Colorado Avalanche picked goaltenderJustus Annunenwith the 64th overall selection in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft on Saturday morning at American Airlines Center. He was the team's second pick of the draft.
Annunen, 18, was ranked as the No. 4 International goalie by NHL Central Scouting on the bureau's final list and was the third netminder taken in the draft. He is 6-foot-4 and 217 pounds.

The Kempele, Finland, native played for Karpat's junior team this past season, appearing in 26 games and registering a 2.21 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. He also played in one contest for Karpat's men's team, his first profession hockey game of his career. With the junior team, he was named the league's best goalie, a first-team all-star and won a silver medal after the club finished in second place.
Annunen represented his country at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and the 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship, the latter of which he helped Finland to a gold medal. He registered a 2.00 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in six games at the under-18 tournament.

The Avs obtained the pick No. 64 and No. 146 after trading the 58th overall pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Colorado originally received the 58th selection (second round) from the Nashville Predators as part of a three-team trade on Nov. 5 that also included the Ottawa Senators.
The Avalanche had entered the weekend with two second-round draft choices, but the team traded its own pick, 47th overall, to the Washington Capitals on Friday night in exchange for goaltender Philipp Grubauer and defenseman Brooks Orpik.
Pittsburgh received the 64th overall pick in trade with the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 23.