Paul Stasnty was drafted in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round, 44th overall. NHL's Central Scouting Service had ranked him prior to the draft as the 74th best North-American skater available. Before moving to Denver in 1995, the Colorado Avalanche were the Quebec Nordiques, the team for which his father played between 1980and 1990 and had his jersey number retired. Paul Stastny signed a multi-year contract with the Avalanche on July 24, 2006 and began his professional career in the 2006-07 NHL season. Before training camp, it wasn't expected he would start the season with the Avalanche but rather in the minors. However, Steve Konowalchuk career-ending heart problem opened a roster spot and Stastny's play impressed Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville. Stastny started the season with the jersey number 62 until his teammate John-Michael Liles changed his to let Stastny use number 26, the same his father wore when he played for the franchise while it was in Quebec. Stastny had his first NHL assist on a goal by Wojtek Wolski in his third NHL game, on October 8 against the Vancouver Canucks. On October 21, his eight NHL game and first wearing number 26, Stastny scored his first NHL goal in Montreal against David Aebischer of the Canadiens. On February 21, 2007, Stastny scored two goals and passed Alex Tanguay's rookie point total of 51 points to set a new Colorado Avalanche record for points by a rookie. His father holds the franchise record with 109. Between February 3 and March 17, he had a 20-game scoring streak, breaking not only his father's franchise rookie record of 16 games, but the NHL rookie record of 17 games that belonged to Teemu Selänne as well. He became the third youngest player in NHL history to record a 20-game scoring streak, following Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. He finished his rookie season with 78 points, and was named one of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy along with Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. Stastny was also named to the 2006-07 NHL All-Rookie Team.
On October 3, 2007, Stastny scored his first career hat trick, a natural one, in a game against the Dallas Stars, scoring three goals in a row against Stars goaltender Marty Turco.
