Colorado Avalanche Top 25 Under 25: #12 Alex Beaucage

2 years ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images


This second year pro has some promise. The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Mile High Hockey staff. Eight writers have ranked players under the age of 25 as of August 1, 2022 in the Colorado Avalanche organization. Each participant used their own metric of value to rank each player. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.

This former third-round pick taken at 78th overall in the 2019 NHL draft has flown under the radar despite a solid first year in professional hockey.
Alex Beaucage graduated from his four-year junior career in the QMJHL as a two-time league champion with the Victoriaville Tigres and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Memorial Cup champion with the latter. He then signed an Entry Level Contract with the Avalanche and was ready for professional hockey to begin the 2021-22 season.
Beaucage played 40 games with the Colorado Eagles in his first year playing pro. Like most prospects, he dealt with an injury that kept him out for two months in the middle of the season. His 12 points in that span didn’t light up the boxscore but he was quietly effective. Staving off demotion to the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies was a feat but Beaucage earned the trust of head coach Greg Cronin and stayed in the lineup and most of that time was spent on the third line. Patience paid off as Beaucage had a bit of a breakout in the postseason with five points in eight games and had a more trusted role than the likes of Shane Bowers and Sampo Ranta.


Alex Beaucage's shot > The AHL pic.twitter.com/0TDGbhyVrh— Nathan Rudolph (@DNVR_Rudo) October 31, 2021



The best part of Beaucage’s game is his shot which is absolutely lethal and of NHL quality. As he gets more comfortable in the AHL that shot should become more of a weapon for the Eagles. Beaucage has had to work a lot on his skating which was once a clear hindrance but now is at least average at the pro level. The surprising part of his first year in the AHL was that Beaucage was defensively responsible and finished at +9 for the year without much of an offensive role which led to the aforementioned trust from the coaching staff.
Moving into now the extremely critical second year of his ELC, Beaucage will have to make an impression on the scoreboard to receive any sort of consideration for a call-up and path to the NHL. With the foundation laid by a solid first year in pro hockey and the tools in his arsenal, there’s reason to look forward to some promise for Beaucage’s future which is reflected in his ranking at #12 on our list.
2022 Top 25 Under 25
#13: Mikhail Maltsev
#14: Shane Bowers
#15: Colby Ambrosio
#16: Danila Zhuravlyov
#17: Andrei Buyalsky
#18: Matthew Steinburg
#19: Nikolai Kovalenko
#20: Trent Miner
#21: Keaton Middleton
#21: Wyatt Aamodt
#23: Taylor Makar
#24: Nathan Clurman
#25: Ivan Zhigalov
...

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