Avalanche’s Mikhail Gulyayev Signs Two-Year KHL Extension
Colorado Avalanche 2023 first-round pick Mikhail Gulyayev has signed a two-year, two-way contract extension with the KHL’s Avangard Omsk, according to the league’s official transactions wire.
Gulyayev’s KHL contract was set to expire this summer. This extension confirms that the defenseman will remain in Russia through the 2027-28 season, meaning the earliest he could officially sign with the Avalanche would be for 2028-29, his age-23 campaign.
The Avalanche hold Gulyayev’s rights indefinitely, so there is no pressure to sign him to an entry-level deal before a certain point in order to preserve his exclusive signing rights.
The 21-year-old was selected by the Avalanche No. 31 overall at the 2023 NHL Draft, with a pick they acquired from the Montreal Canadiens as part of the Alex Newhook trade.
At the time, it seemed the Avalanche may have had a steal on their hands with Gulyayev, at least considering where he was ranked entering the draft. He was No. 23 on Bob McKenzie’s list for TSN, and No. 21 overall in the rankings of Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.
Gulyayev split his draft campaign between the KHL, Russia’s top minor league, the VHL, and the top junior league in the MHL. Since then, he has played three campaigns as a regular in the KHL for Omsk.
While he remains ranked as one of the top prospects in the Avalanche system, (No. 3 in the most recent ranking by Wheeler) the pace of his development has concerned some scouts. Wheeler wrote in March that Gulyayev “has struggled to take that next step beyond just being a depth guy” in the KHL. As his ice time fell compared to last season, so did his production. Gulyayev scored 15 points in 2024-25, but had just three in 2025-26.
Wheeler also wrote that Gulyayev “needs to get over to North America” to maximize his development and chances of becoming an impactful NHL player, but that will now not happen for at least two more seasons.
While Avalanche fans are likely also itching to see Gulyayev cross the Atlantic and join their organization in North America, it did not appear to be as pressing of a priority to Gulyayev. He was invited to the team’s development camp last summer, but opted to remain in Russia to prepare for the season, in contrast to fellow KHL prospect Ilya Nabokov, who attended development camp. Nabokov had signed his entry-level deal in May of that year.
Last summer, when Gulyayev was asked by Sergey Demidov of RG.org about his timeline to sign an entry-level deal, the player was non-committal, saying “right now I can’t say anything concrete.”
With the news of the two-year extension, his window to join the Avalanche will be pushed back an additional two seasons. The hope will be that with a level of continuity in Omsk, he can rebound after a difficult 2025-26 season and develop to the point of being NHL-ready by the time his extension expires.
Photos courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Avalanche’s Mikhail Gulyayev Aiming For NHL Debut This Season
Avalanche 2023 first-round pick Mikhail Gulyayev has spent his entire career in his native Russia to date. He’s looking to change that by making his NHL debut at the tail end of the 2025-26 campaign, he told Sergey Demidov of RG.
Now 20, Gulyayev was always one of the most high-ceiling offensive options among blueliners in the 2023 class. The lefty has to work to overcome his sub-ideal frame – 5’10” and 172 lbs – but his projection hasn’t really changed.
He’s struggled to gain premier ice time in the KHL but enters 2025-26 with two full-time seasons at the pro level under his belt. He’s developed almost entirely in Avangard Omsk’s system and has played exclusively for the top club in the regular season since his post-draft year. He now has an 11-17–28 scoring line in 144 career KHL games with an even rating.
His coach in Omsk is ex-NHL bench boss Guy Boucher, who told Demidov to throw caution regarding any playing-style comparisons to Avs star Cale Makar. “This is a kid who has good potential to be himself,” Boucher said. “Over the years, this is what I realized kills players, kills youngsters, when they are compared to other people. He needs to grow his pace to be himself. Makar is a completely different type. You can compare it to football. They have a quarterback and running backs. Makar is more of a quarterback. Guly is more of a running back, it’s not the same style at all.”
As things stand, the Avs have a bit of a hole on their left side and could benefit from Gulyayev being an option come playoff time if his development this season dictates he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. They’re likely to need to run two righties on their third pairing in Brent Burns and Sam Malinski, and there are no legitimate everyday lefties in the organization outside of top-four fixtures Samuel Girard and Devon Toews.
Even if he’s not able to make the jump this season, Girard only has one year remaining on his deal after this one. There’s plenty of organizational room long-term for Gulyayev to grow into the impact piece Colorado hopes he can be after having a rather iffy recent track record with first-round selections.
Afternoon Notes: Byram, Gulyayev, Bump
The Buffalo Sabres are presently at risk of losing restricted-free agent defenseman Bowen Byram to the heaps of interest from around the league. He has been mentioned as a candidate for an offer sheet or trade, with a heap of Western Conference teams swirling around both options. The Sabres have already expressed their intent to match any offer sheet that comes across their desk, though Sean McIndoe of The Athletic points out an important contingency to that idea in his latest newsletter. Matching an offer sheet would only set Buffalo up to repeat this song-and-dance again next season, when Byram would be just one year removed from unrestricted-free agency. They’d be better off making a decision about him sooner rather than later, unless their intent is to push Byram back onto Rasmus Dahlin‘s side.
That could end up a lucrative approach for the Sabres. Byram posted 38 points and nearly 23 minutes in average ice time – both career-highs – while playing in Buffalo’s top-four last season. His overall performances left many wanting more, but the then-23-year-old Byram seemed to add a layer of smooth confidence to his overall game. A full year, and 100 games, of familiarity in the Sabres lineup could be enough to set up a breakout campaign next year – though all updates seem to point towards a split being inevitable. Buffalo will need to be careful with their handling of Byram. Their decisions over the next few weeks will be among the biggest headlines through the remaining summer.
Other notes from around the league:
- Colorado Avalanche Director of Player Development Brian Willsie shared that the club is hoping that defense prospect Mikhail Gulyayev will come over from Russia at the end of the 2025-26 seaosn, per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. Gulyayev played through his second full year in the KHL this season – notching seven goals and 15 points in 67 games played. He added an additional three points in 13 postseason games. The total year falls closely in line with the 15 points that Gulyayev scored in 76 total games last year. He’s among the team’s top prospects, and is their most recent first-round selection still on the roster. Getting that kind of talent overseas and in a Colorado jersey will be important priority as the Avalanche look to stay fresh through the next few years.
- The Philadelphia Flyers intend to give top prospect Alex Bump every chance to make the team’s roster out of training camp, per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Bump was the motor to Western Michigan University’s engine last season, and managed 23 goals and 47 points in 42 games as the Broncos pushed for to their first national championship in school history. Bump was just as impressive last season, when he scored 36 points in 38 games as a freshman. He finished the year with nine total games in the AHL, where he scored five points. He’s a high-energy and physical winger who seems bound for success at the next level.
West Notes: Morrison, Gulyayev, Georgiev
The Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, have reached the Calder Cup Final in each of their first two seasons of existence. They’re loading up for a third run to the championship series, signing left winger Cam Morrison to a one-year deal, per the league.
Morrison, 25, was a second-round pick of the Avalanche in 2016 but never signed, instead opting to land with the Blackhawks as a free agent in 2020 coming out of Notre Dame. He played out his entry-level contract without an NHL call-up and has spent the past few seasons bouncing between various AHL and ECHL clubs, although he’s beginning to solidify himself as a quality depth piece at the second-highest level of play in North America.
The 6’3″, 209-lb forward spent last season in the Panthers organization on an AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers, where he had five goals and six assists for 11 points with 10 PIMs and a +5 rating in 45 games. He also appeared in eight ECHL games for the Kelly Cup champion Florida Everblades, where he had five goals and an assist.
Morrison will head out West to a Coachella Valley team set to have a solid veteran presence up front, including captain Max McCormick, Brandon Biro, and Mitchell Stephens, all of whom are under contract with the Kraken on two-way deals and have NHL experience.
More updates from the Western Conference:
- Don’t expect Avalanche prospect Mikhail Gulyayev to get his feet wet in the AHL before making his NHL debut. The defenseman told Sergey Demidov of Responsible Gambling that “my path to the NHL is to come and play right away.” Gulyayev, 19, was picked 31st overall in 2023 and remains under contract with Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League through 2025-26. It’s likely he’ll play out the final two seasons of that deal before signing his entry-level contract with Colorado and making his NHL debut in the fall of 2026. An offensive powerhouse in the junior ranks, Gulyayev had four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 64 games for Avangard in his first full professional season last year.
- The Avalanche also have a bit of a question mark in the crease with Alexandar Georgiev entering the final season of his contract. It seems likely the pending UFA will test the market next summer, opines Aarif Deen of Mile High Sports. Georgiev currently costs $3.4MM against the cap for the strapped Avs, and Deen believes a solid season from the netminder would likely price him out of Colorado’s goaltending budget, while an underwhelming season from the Bulgaria-born goalie would likely influence the Avs to walk away. Thus, 24-year-old Justus Annunen‘s performance in his first season of full-time backup duties will be one of the bigger storylines in Denver in 2024-25.