Nikolai Kovalenko, the Avalanche’s sixth-round draft pick in 2018 and the son of former Avs forward Andrei Kovalenko, signed a two-year entry-level contract Tuesday, the team announced. But the Russian prospect is expected to remain in the KHL on a rental through the first year of the deal.
Kovalenko, 23, has developed overseas into one of Colorado’s more promising wing prospects. He scored 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games last season for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, finishing fifth in the league in points per game.
He was the seventh player the Avalanche drafted in their 2018 class, going No. 171 overall to a franchise that was rebuilding at the time. Only two of the players Colorado selected before Kovalenko remain in the organization: goalie Justus Annunen and forward Sampo Ranta, who recently signed in the Swedish league but whose rights were retained by the Avs. Martin Kaut was the team’s first-round pick in 2018; he was traded to San Jose last season and has since returned to his native Czech league.
Kovalenko has appeared in 215 career KHL games after playing 72 games in Russia’s junior league. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, before being raised in Russia. His father spent the first three-plus years of his NHL career with the Quebec Nordiques and Avalanche, compiling 68 goals and 147 points for the organization.
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