Avalanche Recall Ivan Ivan

The Avalanche announced they’ve recalled forward Ivan Ivan from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. They were operating with an open roster spot after sending Taylor Makar down yesterday, so no corresponding move is required.

Colorado has shown a tendency to frequently rotate depth forward options on the roster when needing to dip into its minor-league depth to address injuries. With Gabriel Landeskog and Joel Kiviranta now sidelined, that hasn’t changed.

Ivan, 23, gets his second recall of the season and will presumably draw into the lineup tonight against the Senators as the fourth-line left wing. Makar had skated in that role alongside Zakhar Bardakov and Parker Kelly in two of the last three games.

The 6’0″, 190-lb Ivan made three appearances for the Avs near the end of November, scoring one assist with a +1 rating while averaging 8:19 of ice time per game. Initially an undrafted free agent signing by the Eagles out of the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles in 2023, he quickly worked his way up toward landing an NHL contract and being a frequently relied-upon call-up option. He made 40 appearances for the Avs as a rookie last year, notching five goals and eight points.

While the Czech native stood out as a rookie with the Eagles in 2023-24, he hasn’t been able to recapture that offensive success in the minors. He went from a 12-19–31 scoring line in 67 games as a first-year pro to churning out just four goals and 20 points in 64 AHL games since the beginning of last year.

Ivan’s always profiled as more of a penalty-killing forward with good playmaking skills, though, so the lack of goal-scoring isn’t entirely unexpected. Nonetheless, for a talent who twice hit a point per game in high-level junior hockey, he’ll be looking for more production as the season rolls on.