Avalanche Promote Andrew Cogliano To Assistant GM

Two seasons into his front office career, Andrew Cogliano is already climbing the Colorado Avalanche’s ladder. He has been promoted to assistant general manager by the Avalanche, who named Joe Sakic general manager once again over the summer. Cogliano served as a special assistant to general manager Chris MacFarland over the last two seasons. He supported the front office in multiple ways, including player development, scouting, and working with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

Cogliano praised Sakic and MacFarland for involving him early-and-often in different aspects of front office work per Corey Masisak of the Denver Post. He will now use that experience to directly support Sakic, alongside fellow assistant GMs Kevin McDonald and Andrew Wilson. McDonald serves as GM of the Eagles, while Wilson offers expertise in salary cap management, contract negotiations, and the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Their roles should allow Cogliano to put his focus towards supporting the NHL roster.

Cogliano played through 17 seasons, across five teams, in the NHL before his days as a manager. It began with the Edmonton Oilers, who drafted Cogliano with the 25th-overall pick in 2005. He joined the Oilers lineup after two seasons at the University of Michigan and made an immediate impact in the NHL. Cogliano recorded the highest scoring of his career in his rookie season, reaching 45 points in 82 games.

A hot start in the pros would turn into year-over-year consistency. Cogliano played in every single game of his first 10 seasons in the NHL, even through a shift from the Edmonton Oilers to the Anaheim Ducks during the 2011 off-season. Cogliano scored at 40-point pace in his first season in Anaheim – the shortened 2012-13 campaign – then followed it with 21 goals and 42 points in 2013-14. Those performances turned Cogliano into a fixture of the Ducks’ lineup through 2018. He was traded to the Dallas Stars in January 2019, kicking off a journey across the NHL for the final five years of his career. Cogliano would move from Dallas to the San Jose Sharks, then joined the Avalanche ahead of their Stanley Cup-winning 2021-22 season. Across his full career, Cogliano totaled 464 points in 1,294 regular season games and 40 points in 131 playoff games.

The 39-year-old Cogliano is set to continue a rich career in the NHL by taking the next step in Colorado’s front office. This track will put a GM role in-sight for the experienced role – but first, he’ll look to support another run to the Stanley Cup in Colorado.