Colorado Avalanche Top 25 Under 25: #20 Linus Funck

We start the top twenty players under twenty-five with this year’s 4th round pick!

The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by Mile High Hockey staff members. Six writers have ranked players under the age of 25 in the Colorado Avalanche organization as of September 1, 2025. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked (plus one Honorable Mention).

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t have much to do at this year’s NHL Entry Draft, but they did manage to land a few fresh faces, including a young man from Sweden who is already a pretty large human being for his age. Could the Avalanche have found gold in the fourth round hills?

Linus Funck could prove a bright spot in an era where the Avalanche haven’t been exactly crushing the development side of the organization. Scouts have labeled Funck as a rangy and intelligent defender with middle pair potential further down the road. Let’s take a deeper look at what the kid is bringing to the table and what is on the horizon.

The key indicator of Funck’s readiness is how he performs against his opponents in Luleå HF U20. Although Linus has spent all of his time in Sweden playing Juniors, which leaves a bit to be desired in the realm of experience, considering he’s just 18 years old and has a promising frame, the potential for early NHL readiness is striking! Potential is great, but we are still developing Linus’ origin story, which comes with a lot of opportunities for it not to work out. I, for one, hope his size allows him to settle in with older competition swiftly and start to develop a comfort level with a heightened speed of play.

The part of Linus that has me excited is that he excels in all of the things that eventually form an NHL-caliber defender. His strength comes in breaking up rush attempts and using his size to send a message and affect the opposition. Typically, we long for young defensive prospects to come into their own as it pertains to retrieval and passing skill, but that’s another tool in Lunus’ game that could be nurtured to elite levels. Here’s how Elite Prospects describes the young Swede:

“Funck uses his reach to kill rushes on top of the blue line and creates breakups along the wall with his physical presence. He is also highly effective on retrievals, mostly through smart first-touch passes.”

If the Colorado Avalanche can hit on a 118th pick, they deserve some flowers, and as we sit today, our 20th-ranked player under twenty-five has his future ahead of him. His potential path to becoming an NHL regular is far from determined, but he should have plenty of opportunities to prove his worth.

2025 Top 25 Under 25

#25 Louka Cloutier

#24 Ivan Yunin

#23 Nikita Ishimnikov

#22 Chris Romaine

#21 Nolan Roed