Yup, if any serious risk of avalanche then I agree with the shovel. And if anyone else on the trip has a beacon, then I'll bring my beacon (don't own any wands ...). It really depends on the trip. At least in my general area most avalanches happen in the same places every year, so --- duh! Don't go to those places if the risk is significant (which can be found out online before venturing out and pretending to dig a snow pit ...).
IMO the biggest thing to know about avalanches is how to avoid getting in them, and not so much about how to more conveniently find the bodies later. So it's about map reading, understanding snow layers, being wise enough to turn back when conditions look dicey, etc etc.

So anyway, in some contexts, a metal tipped shovel can be worth carrying. I do own one, but it's a couple of pounds, not something I'd like to carry often.

The snowclaw is far from optimal, but if I'm not wearing snowshoes I reckon it's a worthwhile trade-off to carry. A bit of a PITA to use, until you consider the alternatives in a real emergency!

In fact, using snowshoe or snowclaw I do occasionally move a bit of snow in normal snow camping, just not large volumes of the stuff.