The floor filled with General Managers, scouts, head coaches and front office hockey operations staff of the respective 32 NHL teams arranged at the 2022 NHL Draft hosted in Montreal's Bell Centre began to ready themselves to leave up as this year's draft wrapped up and one final pick in the seventh rounder remained to be announced. 

After not having a pick in the 2022 NHL Draft until the sixth and seventh rounds, the Colorado Avalanche made two selections on Friday afternoon at Montreal's Bell Centre . The club selected defenseman Chris Romaine with the 193rd overall pick (sixth round) and goaltender Ivan Zhigalov with the 225th overall pick (seventh round). 

Selecting for the future. 

The Colorado Avalanche appears to have played the long game with its selections in the 2021 NHL Draft.

In a year like no other where games were far less than normal for draft-eligible players and live viewings of the prospects for scouts were even more limited due to COVID-19, allowing a little extra time for seasoning might not be the worst thing for the newest crop of NHL talent.

The Avalanche had four picks, one each in the first three round and another in the seventh (fifth to last), and chose three players that are committed to playing in college and another that is skating in Sweden and has options for his development. The four draft choices were the fewest the franchise has ever made in the entry draft.

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club made four selections at the 2021 NHL Draft held Friday and Saturday.

The Colorado Avalanche selected forward Taylor Makar in the seventh round (No. 220 overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft.

Makar, 20, has spent the past three-plus seasons with the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and has amassed 61 points (17 goals, 44 assists) in 104 games. The 6-foot-1, 172-pound left wing was the captain of the Bandits in 2020-21 and had 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 16 outings during the campaign.

The Colorado Avalanche selected center Andrei Buyalsky with the 92nd overall pick in the third round of the 2021 NHL Draft on Saturday.

Buyalsky, 20, split last season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League and HK Almaty in his home country of Kazakhstan, where he produced five goals and eight assists in 24 games. In 36 USHL contests with Dubuque in 2020-21, Buyalsky had 15 goals and 17 assists.

The Colorado Avalanche selected defenseman Sean Behrens at No. 61 overall in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft on Saturday.

Behrens, 18, has played the past two years for the U.S. National Team Development Program. The blueliner recorded 35 points (seven goals, 28 assists) in 46 total games in 2020-21. The 5-foot-10, 177-pounder had one goal and three assists in five games at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship this past spring.

As the 2021 NHL Draft snaked through the first round and the Colorado Avalanche's 28th overall pick grew closer, there was a rise in anxiety in the team's war room.

A player that the Avs had their eye on hadn't been selected yet, but would he still be available once it was their turn? It wasn't until after the Nashville Predators traded up to select Zachary L'Heureux at No. 27 that Colorado general manager Joe Sakic, director of amateur scouting Wade Klippenstein and the rest of the staff could enjoy a sigh of relief. They knew they got their guy in Oskar Olausson.

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club selected forward Oskar Olausson with the 28th overall pick in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft on Friday night.

Olausson, 18, made his debut in the Swedish Hockey League, the top professional hockey league in Sweden, during the 2020-21 campaign and recorded four points (3g/1a) in 16 games for HV71. He began the year with HV71's team in J20 Nationell, Sweden's junior league, and collected 27 points (14g/13a) in 16 games before joining the senior team. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound right wing was loaned to Södertälje in Allsvenskan, Sweden's second-tier league, to finish the campaign, recording six points (3g/3a) in 11 outings. Olausson has totaled 47 points (22g/25a) in 48 career games in J20 Nationell, all with the HV71 organization.