- Avalanche sign forward Georgii Merkulov to a one-year, two-way deal
- The undrafted winger has led Providence in scoring every AHL season since 2022
- Read below for how Merkulov fits Colorado’s bottom-six plans
The Colorado Avalanche keep raiding the Boston Bruins for depth.
Colorado signed forward Georgii Merkulov to a one-year, two-way contract on Monday. He is the latest player to make the jump from Boston’s system to Denver this summer.
The Avalanche made it official:
Merkulov has spent the last three seasons lighting up the AHL. Since signing with Boston as an undrafted free agent in 2022, he has led the Providence Bruins in scoring every single year, climbing from 55 points as a rookie to a career-best 65 the following season.
Last year the 25-year-old put up 61 points in 70 games on a league-minimum contract. The NHL looks have been thinner. Merkulov owns just 11 games and one point with Boston, never quite sticking at the top level.
Colorado gives him another runway. The Avalanche have leaned on a rotation of AHL-to-NHL tweeners for their bottom six, and the two-way structure lets them shuttle Merkulov between Denver and their farm team without much risk.
The signing helps offset the departures of Ivan Ivan, T.J. Tynan and Alex Barre-Boulet. Merkulov joins fellow newcomers Vinnie Hinostroza and Adam Beckman in the fight for fourth-line minutes.
He is also the second Bruins reclamation project Colorado has scooped up. The Avs landed winger Fabian Lysell from Boston earlier in the offseason, and now they have added the AHL’s most reliable scorer to the pipeline behind him.
If Merkulov produces in Colorado the way he has in the minors, the Avalanche just found a cheap answer for their forward depth.
