The Avalanche have inked left-shot defenseman Christian Wolanin to a two-way deal, PuckPedia reports. He’ll earn the league-minimum $850K NHL salary in the upcoming season with a relatively hefty $400K AHL salary under it.

Wolanin, now 31, now switches organizations two summers in a row after a three-year stint in the Canucks’ system from 2022-25. While a high-end offensive threat from the blue line at the minor-league level, Wolanin hasn’t seen an NHL contest since suiting up 16 times for Vancouver in the 2022-23 campaign.

After winning a Calder Cup title with AHL Abbotsford in 2025, Wolanin failed to secure an NHL deal for last year and instead played in the Bruins’ system with Providence on an AHL-only contract. A 2016 national championship winner with North Dakota, Wolanin had a fruitful year with the P-Bruins, racking up a 7-24–31 scoring line in 53 outings with a +12 rating. With 13 defenders already signed for this year, though, it doesn’t look like Boston had interest in retaining him on an NHL contract.

Wolanin now heads to Colorado, where he could be a real recall option, especially in the wake of depth puck-mover Jack Ahcan‘s loss to the Predators in free agency. The Avs’ NHL group for next season is virtually locked in with Brent Burns‘ and Brett Kulak‘s returns, plus the addition of Noah Juulsen as a new press-box option, but there’s a clear need for a recall option with some offensive upside. There’s Domenick Fensore, who they plucked from the Hurricanes this week, who’s put up some decent point totals. But at just 5’9″, he comes in five inches short of Wolanin with significantly less NHL experience.

The 6’2″, 190-lb lefty was a fourth-round pick by the Senators back in 2015. Over half of his 86 career NHL appearances came in Ottawa before he was ultimately traded to the Kings in 2021. He was then lost on waivers for a few weeks the following season to the Sabres before ultimately returning to L.A., only to sign with Vancouver in free agency at the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign.