Our countdown continues with a defenseman continuing his NCAA career!
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).
Chris Romaine was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche back in 2022, where he was taken at 193rd overall in round six of that year’s draft. Since then, Romaine has continued to develop over the past handful of seasons, mostly in the USHL, before making the jump to NCAA hockey this past season. As seen in the sidebar here, his first season with the Ohio State Buckeyes was nothing too special, as he only played nine games for them, and didn’t record any points. That being said though, his defensive skills were on display during those games, as he recorded 11 blocked shots in those nine games.
Knowing that information, it’s easy to see that Romaine’s skill already lies in his defensive game for the most part, which is what you want to see from a prospect, in my opinion. Obviously you’d like to see the offense start to come for him, which we’ll get to in a second, but you want your defenseman to be good at defending first and foremost, which Romaine seems to be good at to this point. Hopefully he can improve upon his defensive game as he continues his development through NCAA hockey, and I’m confident that he will continue to improve.
As for what Romaine can improve on in his sophomore season, obviously you would like to see him record some points. Prior to playing for Ohio State, Romaine played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL during the 203-24 season, in which he recorded six goals and 24 assists in 55 games. There’s obviously still plenty of time for Romaine to find his offensive game at the NCAA level, and I’m confident that he will find it, in due time. If Romaine is going to play for Colorado at the NHL level, he’s still a few years off and still has plenty of time to develop and this is reflected in our ranking of him.
2025 Top 25 Under 25
#25 Louka Cloutier
#24 Ivan Yunin