{"id":856436,"date":"2026-08-15T18:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856436\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T18:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:28:08","slug":"central-notes-nabokov-fitzgerald-tullio-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856436\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Notes: Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Tullio \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\">\n  By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prohockeyrumors.com\/author\/brianlarose\" title=\"Posts by Brian La Rose\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brian La Rose<\/a> |<br \/>\n  at August 15, 2026 10:28 am  <\/p>\n<p>Avalanche goalie prospect <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/651894\/ilya-nabokov\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ilya Nabokov<\/a> made his long-awaited trek to North America late last season, but only saw time as a third-string option with both the AHL Eagles and the Avs.\u00a0 Now, he\u2019s set for his first season in North America but finds himself behind a set tandem in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wedgesc01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scott Wedgewood<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/blackma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a>.\u00a0 Accordingly, Nabokov appears to be earmarked to play for the Eagles this season.\u00a0 When <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sport24.ru\/hockey\/article-872758-v-metallurge-shutyat-kogda-obratno-no-ya-nadeyus-zaderzhatsya-v-nkhl-intervyu-ili-nabokova\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">asked by Sport 24\u2019s Dmitry Yerkalov<\/a> if that means he could return to the KHL this season instead, Nabokov noted there is no clause in his deal to return to Russia and his focus is solely on trying to get to the NHL.\u00a0 The 23-year-old has a career .919 SV% over parts of five KHL seasons and with Wedgewood only having one year left on his contract and seeming likely to command a big raise on his $2.5MM price tag, a strong showing from Nabokov this season could be enough to make him part of the tandem with the Avalanche in 2027-28.<\/p>\n<p>More from the Central:<\/p>\n<p>Blues prospect <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/628141\/colin-fitzgerald\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Colin Fitzgerald<\/a> has committed to Providence College, relays Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarkDivver\/status\/2087587873398620366\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>). However, the center is set to return to Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL for the upcoming season, notes Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/THNRyanKennedy\/status\/2087595992015049193\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>).\u00a0 Louis drafted the 18-year-old in the seventh round back in June, 206th overall.\u00a0 Fitzgerald played in 63 games last season between the Petes and Greyhounds, potting 15 goals and 18 assists.\u00a0 However, he was held off the scoresheet in ten postseason contests.<br \/>\nAHL Tucson, affiliate of the Mammoth, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tucsonroadrunners.com\/news\/roadrunners-sign-forward-ty-tullio-to-one-year-ahl-contract\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">announced<\/a> that they\u2019ve re-signed winger <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/201944\/tyler-tullio\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tyler Tullio<\/a> to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old will be entering his second season with the Roadrunners after putting up nine goals and 14 assists in 50 games in 2025-26.\u00a0 Tullio was drafted by Edmonton back in 2020 but was non-tendered after his entry-level contract ended last summer, ultimately resulting in a minor-league deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Brian La Rose | at August 15, 2026 10:28 am Avalanche goalie prospect Ilya Nabokov made his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,426659,7522,426581,575,31033,85,3935,426660,7528],"class_list":["post-856436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-colin-fitzgerald","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-ilya-nabokov","tag-nhl","tag-ohl","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-tyler-tullio","tag-utah-mammoth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}