Bruins, Avalanche Swap Fabian Lysell, Ivan Ivan

The Boston Bruins have traded away a former top prospect. 2021 first-round pick Fabian Lysell has been traded to the Colorado Avalanche in a swap for forward Ivan Ivan. The deal spurs a change of scenery for two players on the fringe of the NHL lineup.

Lysell was a top prospect ahead of the 2021 NHL Draft. He earned consistent, first-round acclaim – even despite netting just three points in 26 games of the 2020-21 SHL season. The speedy winger shifted to the WHL’s Vancouver Giants in the year after his draft and quickly stood out as a top-notch playmaker. He scored 83 points in 65 WHL games between the regular season and playoffs. That production set up a much-anticipated pro debut in 2022-23 that Lysell paid off with 37 points in 54 AHL games. Excitement only grew when he climbed to 50 points in 56 games of the 2023-24 season.

The wind stopped blowing on the heels of that growth, though. Lysell seemed to run into a ceiling at the top of the AHL lineup, unable to translate his sharp playmaking or feisty forechecking to the NHL flight. He scored just three points in his first, and only, stint in the NHL – a 12-game run during the 2024-25 campaign. Lysell coupled that debut with just 34 points in 52 AHL games, a mark that grew to 42 points in 57 games this year. Still pushing up against the ceiling, Boston will offer Lysell the chance to break through on the other side of the league.

Meanwhile, the Bruins will reel back in a reliable depth forward. Ivan has split his time between the AHL and NHL over the last two seasons – appearing in 49 NHL games and scoring nine points, to go with 38 points in 102 AHL games, in that span. He is a slow-moving but effective defensive-forward. Ivan should help the Bruins fill their fourth-line – but shouldn’t hog space from the team’s many emerging prospects. With Lysell stepping out of the pipeline, Boston will look towards Matthew Poitras and Dans Locmelis to soon challenge for NHL roles. Both Ivan and Poitras are pending restricted free agents in need of new contract.