RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 2: Zachary L'heureux #68 of the Nashville Predators scores against Darcy Kuemper #35 of the Los Angeles Kings during the first period at Crypto.com Arena on April 2, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by Mile High Hockey staff members. Seven writers have ranked players under the age of 25 in the Colorado Avalanche organization as of September 1, 2026. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked .
Name: Zach L’Heureux
Age: 23
Position: LW
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 197 lbs.
Likely 2026-27 Team: Colorado Avalanche (?)
2025 Rank: N/A
Final Rank: #11
High Rank: #7 (Jackie)
Low Rank: #33 (Brennan)
2025-26 Statistics:
Nashville Predators : 25GP: 4G, 1A, 5P
Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) : 30GP: 14G, 14A, 28P
Is there a player with more intrigue for the Colorado Avalanche heading into the 2026-27 season than newly acquired forward Zach L’Heureux? He could either end up spending the majority of the season in the AHL, like he did last year, or he could end up solidifying as one of the missing pieces on the Avalanche roster in a middle-six scoring role. The range in our voting reflects this uncertainty as L’Heureux’s value to the organization is up in the air.
There also isn’t a player in the entire Avalanche organization with a more complicated past than L’Heureux now with Val Nichushkin jettisoned. The 23-year-old has been suspended at every level he’s played including on nine occasions in the QMJHL including once for 10 games, three times in the AHL and one three-game suspension in the NHL for slew-footing Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon. It’s no secret that the Avalanche lack a little bite in their game and could use someone who toes the line, but is Jared Bednar going to put his trust in that type of player, especially someone who is still trying to establish themselves in the league? The mantra always is it’s better to reign in passion than try to encourage it, but we’ll see how that goes in reality.
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L’Heureux brings a reasonable resume and pedigree with him to Colorado as a former first round pick taken at 27th overall in the 2021 draft by the Nashville Predators. After finishing his junior career in the QMJHL, he spent his first pro season in 2023-24 entirely in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals. There L’Heureux put up 48 points including 19 goals in a 66 game rookie season. The next year “Happy” as they call him only played four games in the AHL and was with the Predators for 62 games where he scored 15 points. He also led all NHL rookies with 198 hits that season showing the physical bite to his game.
The following year Nashville put L’Heureux back in the AHL for the bulk of the season and did well scoring 28 points in 30 games, but the move called in question his future in the NHL. The left winger played 25 games in Nashville, all at the end of the season, and only put up five points with four goals and an assist. It makes sense why a change of scenery was the move now especially with L’Heureux’s waiver exemption having expired. He is signed for two years, though, one-way for $875K cap hit per year, which gives the Avalanche an incentive to make it work. It will be fascinating to see where the experiment goes from here.
2026 Top 25 Under 25
#25 Nikita Novosyolov
#24 Axel Eloffson
#23 Teddy Lechner
#22 Ivan Yunin
#21 Luka Cloutier
#20 Matthew DiMarsico
#19 Shawn Carrier
#18 Domenick Fensore
#17 Tory Pitner
#16 Jake Fisher
#15 Beckett Hamilton
#14 Linus Funck
#13 Alex Gagne
#12 Egor Shilov
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