Colorado Avalanche Top 25 Under 25: #20 Colby Ambrosio

The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Mile High Hockey community. Eight writers have ranked players under the age of 25 as of July 1, 2021 in the Colorado Avalanche organization. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production against future projection to rank each player. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.

Despite being graded in the top-75 by some scouting serviced, Colby Ambrosio fell into the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft where the Colorado Avalanche scooped him up. A year later, the newly turned 19-year old has turned himself from a project with potential speed issues into someone who looks like he will one day make a legitimate impact in the NHL.

As one of the youngest players in the NCAA, Ambrosio spent last season playing at Boston College with Avalanche forward Alex Newhook and Avs defensive prospect Drew Helleson. Ambrosio skated in all 24 games, putting up 15 points - a very good total for an 18-year old freshman.

His Game

Finishing second on BC with 62 shots on net last season, Ambrosio is a volume shooter who likes to have the puck on his stick and create his own offense. He flourishes off the rush, where he is able to use his lateral quickness and high-end puck-handling to open up shooting lanes.

Thanks to the absence of some of their top players - Alex Newhook in particular - Ambrosio found his way onto the top powerplay for the Eagles at times last season thanks to his high-end offensive play.

The knock on Ambrosio going into the draft was that he lacked strength and didn’t play with the type of high-end speed scouts like to see from a player his size. That was the same criticism that caused Brayden Point to drop into the third round back in 2014.

Ambrosio isn’t Point but he has proven in his draft +1 season that a lot of the worries were unfounded. He still has a small frame and has a lot of physical maturing to do but Ambrosio was more than able to hold his own against much bigger competition at the NCAA level.

He also proved that speed isn’t an issue. While he doesn’t necessarily have the straight-line speed that would classify him as a “burner” he’s more than agile enough - using great lateral movement to play a quick style of game.

The Avalanche haven’t hit on a later round lottery ticket in recent years but Ambrosio looks like he could be the one. He will fill a top-6 role at Boston College this year as he works on adding strength and maturity to his game. He has the potential to put up more than a point per game in the NCAA as early as this season and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Ambrosio skyrocket into the top-10 on the T25U25 list next season.

T25U25

21. Dennis Gilbert

22. Daniil Zhuravlyov

23. Tyler Weiss

24. Nikolai Kovalenko

25. Nick Henry