Welcome to NHL draft week. The Avalanche has the 10th, 40th, 71st, 101st, 161st and 191st picks Friday (Round 1) and Saturday (2-7 rounds) in Sunrise, Fla. Colorado traded its fifth-round pick (No. 131) to Montreal last summer in the P.A. Parenteau for Daniel Briere swap (which, however ugly, freed Colorado of $4 million next season).
Alan Hepple is Colorado’s new director of amateur scouting. His predecessor, Rick Pracey, was fired last summer/fall and is now a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers. I hope to talk to Hepple before and during this week’s draft.
With the 10th pick, and by position, the Avs will get the draft’s fifth-ranked center (Pavel Zacha), the top-ranked left wing (Lawson Crouse), the No.