Avalanche Sign Defenseman Gustav Stjernberg to Two-Year Entry-Level Deal

The Colorado Avalanche have added size and experience to their defensive pipeline, signing 23-year-old Swedish blueliner Gustav Stjernberg to a two-year entry-level contract beginning with the 2026-27 season. Stjernberg will join the AHL's Colorado Eagles on a separate AHL contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign, giving the organization an immediate look at the 6-foot-4, 209-pound defenseman before his NHL deal takes effect. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Stjernberg arrives in Colorado off a three-year collegiate career at Bowling Green State University, where he totaled 37 points on 14 goals and 23 assists across 86 games from 2023-26. This season, playing as an alternate captain in his junior year, he posted six goals and four assists for 10 points in 25 games, pacing the Bowling Green defense corps in goals and leading the entire club with 34 blocked shots. He finished sixth in team scoring despite playing exclusively on the blue line.

His progression through the Bowling Green program tells a clear developmental arc. As a freshman in 2023-24, Stjernberg appeared in 31 games and led all Falcons defensemen with 11 points on four goals and seven assists. His sophomore campaign in 2024-25 was his statistical best, producing personal highs in assists (12), points (16), and net rating (plus-7) across 30 games while adding 42 blocked shots to pace the club in that category.

Before arriving in Bowling Green, Ohio, the Enebyberg, Sweden native spent the 2022-23 season with the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers, collecting 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists across 62 games. He led all Des Moines defensemen in goals that season and ranked second among the club's blue line in overall scoring, adding two postseason appearances.

Stjernberg's North American journey followed a youth career spent entirely within the Örebro HK system in Sweden. He recorded 41 points in 74 U-18 games from 2017-20, then moved up to register a 12-goal, 22-assist line across 66 U-20 contests from 2019-22, including five playoff points in six games during the 2021-22 postseason. He also made one appearance with Örebro's SHL club that same season, giving him a brief taste of top-flight Swedish professional hockey before crossing the Atlantic.

The Avalanche signed Stjernberg as an undrafted college free agent, a route the organization has used effectively to add depth to the Eagles roster late in the AHL season. His NHL entry-level contract kicks in for 2026-27, when he will formally enter Colorado's roster picture.