Parker Kelly Posted Career Year in Second Season with Avalanche

In the 2025-26 NHL season, there were 135 players who scored at least 20 goals. Of those 135, only six were undrafted, with one of them being Avalanche forward Parker Kelly, who posted a career-high 21 tallies in 2025-26.

In his second season with the Avs, Kelly also posted career-highs in assists (14) and points (35), while leading Colorado forwards in shorthanded time-on-ice for the NHL’s best penalty kill.  

After the best regular season of his career, Kelly scored the first two playoff goals of his career, including the game-winning tally in Colorado’s Game Four win in Round Two against the Minnesota Wild. His second goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs came in the next game when he scored Colorado’s first tally of the Avs’ three-goal comeback in its series-clinching Game Five victory.

Kelly posted three multi-game point streaks in the regular season, highlighted by a five-contest streak from March 24th through April 1st that saw him post four goals and three assists, including a three-point night against the Calgary Flames on March 30th. Another of Kelly’s multi-point outings came in his 300th career game, when he posted two assists in a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 10th.  

While he recorded the best offensive campaign of his career, Kelly played at an elite level on the defensive side of the puck. According to naturalstattrick.com, Kelly was on the ice for just 26 goals against at five-on-five in the regular season, which was tied for the fourth fewest among players with at least 850 minutes played.  

Throughout his two seasons in Colorado, Kelly has become a star in his role. He enters the 2026-27 campaign 61 games from 400 and 11 points from 100.