The Colorado Avalanche have a goaltending problem
The headline says it all. The Colorado Avalanche simply don’t have the goaltending they need to be a serious threat right now.
Alexandar Georgiyev has been pulled in both of his starts so far, allowing eight goals in 61:56 of time for a .680 save percentage. Justus Annunen hasn’t looked all that good, either, sitting at a .765 save percentage in two relief efforts. That led the team to claim Kaapo Kahkonen on waivers, but even he is unlikely to push the needle.
Colorado Avalanche reporter Jesse Montano joined Daily Faceoff Live on Monday to talk about the team’s struggles in net and what might happen in the long run:
Tyler Yaremchuk: “The numbers early on are ugly. What is the concern level right now in the duo of Annunen and Georgiev? And what is the concern level from a long-term perspective here? Are these two guys who they can trust to get the job done and take them on a run?
Jesse Montano: “I think trust is the word that is a little shaky around these parts right now. Both of these goaltenders have shown at different stretches that they’re capable of winning games for this Avalanche team. If you go back to Georgie’s first year here, he was a 40-16-6 goalie. He played 62 games, won a lot of them, and showed he could carry the load.
“But starting last year, he was inconsistent. It was 10 good games followed by nine shaky ones, and it’s five good games followed by six shaky ones. Annunen, he’s a goaltender that they drafted in the third round back in. They’ve built him up, he’s been a really strong AHL goaltender for them. But he’s got a really limited sample size in the NHL, and he’s looked shaky.
“So, they claimed Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers just a couple days ago. He’s going through the immigration process coming from Winnipeg. So I think that was kind of our first sign. I’ve also been told they were in on Yaroslav Askarov. You can tell that they were feeling a little twitchy about this tandem in terms of a full 82-game season. And that’s a little bit heightened right now.
“In terms of the long term, you know, unfortunately for Alexander Georgiev, the Avs have shown they’re not really in the business of paying goaltenders large dollar amounts. So, really, for me, this is probably Georgiev’s last year here either way. Either he continues the inconsistency and they don’t want to deal with it going forward, or he plays really well and they don’t want to pay him.
“As far as Annunen, he really needs to start showing something soon that’s stealing minutes away from Georgiev because he just hasn’t done that in the two games where he’s coming in relief.”
You can watch the full episode here: