LAS VEGAS — The Colorado Avalanche have a new goaltender of the future, and a new University of Denver prospect.
Colorado selected Ilya Nabokov with the No. 38 pick Saturday morning at the 2024 NHL draft inside The Sphere. Nabokov was the Avs’ first selection of this draft and the first goalie off the board in this class.
The Avs also selected DU commit Jake Fisher with pick No. 121 in the fourth round. Fisher will play for the Pioneers next season.
Nabokov is 21 years old, having been past over in previous drafts, but he had a dominant 2023-24 season for Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL. He had a .930 save percentage in 43 regular-season games, then followed that by winning playoff MVP honors while helping Magnitogorsk to the Gagarin Cup. He went 16-6 during the KHL playoffs with a 1.82 goals against average and .942 save percentage.
He is listed at 6-foot-1, which is shorter than the prototypical NHL goalie in 2024, but Nabokov wasn’t a one-year wonder. He posted save percentages of .932 and .933 over the previous two seasons while playing for Magnitogorsk’s junior team in the MHL.
Colorado had the No. 38 pick after trading back Friday night. The Avs sent No. 24 to Utah for Nos. 38 and 71 in this draft and a 2025 second-round pick. General manager Chris MacFarland kept dealing Saturday morning, sending the No. 71 pick to Buffalo for the 76th and 161st selections in the 2024 draft.
The Avs used No. 76 on Will Zellers, a forward from Shattuck-Saint Mary’s School in Minnesota. Zellers, listed at 5-10.25 and 163 pounds, had 57 goals and 111 points in 54 games for Shattuck this past season. will play for Green Bay in the USHL next season before enrolling at North Dakota for 2025-26.
Zellers grew up in North Dakota and said it’s been a lifelong dream to play at UND. He named Zach Parise as a player he grew up watching and likes to emulate as a player.
Pairse and Nathan MacKinnon are part of a large group of Shattuck alums who have made an impact in the NHL. Zellers called MacKinnon the best player in the world during his first post-draft interview.
Zellers had five goals and seven points in seven games at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which made him the second-leading scorer on the United States team that won a bronze medal.
Fisher, who was eligible but not selected in the 2023 draft, had 23 goals and 47 points in 51 games for the Fargo Force in the USHL this past season. He helped the Force win the USHL championship, and was a Mr. Hockey finalist two years ago in Minnesota at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.
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