Colorado Avalanche Top 25 Under 25: #2 Mikhail Gulyayev

Colorado’s young Russian first-round pick will continue to develop in the KHL for the foreseeable future.

The Top 25 Under 25 is a Mile High Hockey staff collaboration. Six writers have ranked players under the age of 25 in the Colorado Avalanche organization as of August 1, 2024. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.

What’s not to like about Mikhail Gulyayev? He’s an incredible skater with both speed and shiftiness, a high IQ positional defender, an excellent puck retriever with a high-end first pass to spark the breakout, and plays the game with a competitive edge that helps him win pucks battles all over the ice. He’s… Russian Sam Girard???

There’s no Russian cloning program, he’s not an exact replica of Sammy G, but Micky G does profile as the kind of player who can play the exact same role as his French Canadian counterpart. As a 19-year-old in the KHL, Gulyayev has grown up quickly defending full-grown men and, while his offensive production remains minimal, his ice time and matchups clearly indicate the trust of the coaching staff to take puck possession on defense and send the playback to the offensive zone consistently.

When Colorado drafted Gulyayev with the 31st pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, casual fans were not necessarily familiar with his game – but draft experts and more hardcore prospect heads knew the pick was significant.

Bader comparing Gulyayev to Evan Bouchard isn’t a stylistic fit – they’re completely different on the ice – but it does indicate the kind of growth that can be expected from Colorado’s newest shiny toy on the blue line. Bouchard went from prospect to bottom-tier NHLer to star in the span of just a few seasons once he joined the Oilers organization, and if the same happens for Gulyayev the Avs will have an extremely crowded blueline very quickly.

Bouchard did it with a booming slapshot and just enough defense to get by against top competition, while Gulyayev’s game is essentially the reverse – dominant defensive metrics with just enough offense to contribute in tough minutes. But when he seizes the opportunity to join the rush (a freedom Russian teams rarely give their blueliners), he knows how to capitalize:

I don’t want to overhype this kid – the Sam Girard comparisons are much more realistic than the Bouchard-y hype, given his size and style – but in the same way, folks had top-pair hopes for Girard before he settled into being a high-end second-pair guy, it’s not unreasonable to think Gulyayev’s floor is close to that same level.

His ceiling? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. If his offensive game can grow to match his defense, Gulyayev could be the Avalanche’s first true draft gem outside the top 10 picks since Ryan O’Reilly.

2024 Top 25 Under 25

#3 Justus Annunen

#4 Nikolai Kovalenko

#5 Sean Behrens

#6 Ilya Nabokov

#7 Erik Brännström

#8 Jean-Luc Foudy

#9 Oskar Olausson

#10 Ondrej Pavel

#11 Ivan Ivan

#12 William Zellers

#13 Tory Pitner

#14 Christian Humphreys

#15 Trent Miner

#16 Max Curran

#17 Saige Weinstein

#T-18 Jake Fisher

#T-18 Matthew Stienburg

#20 Chase Bradley

#T-21 Louka Cloutier

#T-21 Kevin Mandolese

#23 Zakhar Bardakov

#24 Taylor Makar

#25 Maros Jedlicka