The Colorado Avalanche’s season came to a close on Friday (May 17), eliminated by an overtime goal from a former fan favorite in Denver. It was Matt Duchene’s only goal of the series, pushing the Dallas Stars past the Avs and into the Western Conference Final.
While there were a lot of great things to talk about for Avalanche fans in 2023-24 – and there will likely be some awards coming – there is still a glaring issue that the team has to address in the offseason. This team is in a championship window, but that 2022 crown is getting farther away in the rearview mirror. The offense will remain largely intact next season, but these playoffs showed Colorado needs to make some changes at the back, but not in the way many might think.
Georgiev’s Durability is a Double-Edged Sword
There is no denying that Alexandar Georgiev is one of the league’s most durable goaltenders. He has led the NHL in wins in both of his seasons in Colorado, and has a respectable .908 save percentage (SV%) and 2.77 goals-against average (GAA) in those two campaigns combined. He notably gave up seven goals in the playoff opener, and delivered a mixed bag over the team’s next 10 playoff contests. But how much of that inconsistency has to do with his workload?
The cracks in his consistency started to show at the end of the regular season, when the Avalanche lost five of his last seven starts. This has to come down to the massive amount of playing time heaped on his shoulders over the past two seasons. Since coming to Colorado in a draft-day trade right after Colorado won its third Stanley Cup in 2022, Georgiev has started 142 of the Avalanche’s 182 games over that span (including playoffs).
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Fatigue appears to be a real thing, even for the best goaltenders. Georgiev led the league in minutes played with 3,638 this season, and that was fewer than the 3,700 minutes he played in 2022-23. Only Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros (7,435) and Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck (7,345) have played more minutes over the last two seasons than Georgiev (7,338). It’s notable that of those three, only Georgiev has advanced to the second round during that time, while Hellebuyck and Saros together have a total of just four playoff wins in the last two postseasons combined. While it’s wonderful Colorado can count on Georgiev every night, the question remains as to how much fuel that’s taking out of the tank for the playoffs.
Avs Struggle Keeping Quality Goaltending
The success in Colorado over the past few seasons has come with a revolving door of timely goaltending pickups. The team won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2021 with Philipp Grubauer between the pipes, and he was named a Vezina Trophy finalist that season. The Avs won the Stanley Cup in 2022 with Darcy Kuemper, and then acquired Georgiev for the past two seasons. Despite the ever-changing name on the back of the jersey, they have all played admirably with the heavy workloads.
That admirable play earned good paydays in free agency for both Grubauer (Seattle Kraken) and Kuemper (Washington Capitals). However, that scramble can’t go on forever, just like Georgiev can’t play every minute of the season. He is under contract in Colorado for one more season, but the problem isn’t his play when he’s on the ice. The issue is that he doesn’t get enough time off of it. For all of the good moves the Avs front office has made to remain a contender, they have struggled mightily to get any depth in the crease.
Pavel Francouz was slated as the backup over the past four seasons, but spent more time in the trainer’s room than he did in the crease. He notably filled in for Kuemper in the 2022 postseason, starting four games, but didn’t play a minute in 2023-24 before announcing his retirement. Justus Annunen was decent in his 14 appearances this season (2.25 GAA, .928 SV%), but Georgiev has played more playoff minutes the last two seasons than Annunen has in his career. He’ll likely be the backup option for next season, but Colorado should still be on the lookout for another name to add to the mix.
Who Is Out There for Colorado?
If Colorado adds another goaltender to the roster, there are a number of options out there in free agency. It’s important to note that the Avalanche have their starter in Georgiev, and they don’t need to break the bank on signing a backup. Ideally, bringing in a veteran at the end of his career to eat up some of those minutes late in the season would probably be an ideal option, and there will likely be a number of those hanging out in free agency.
The best thing about older players is their contracts get cheap. Guys like Martin Jones, Antti Raanta, and James Reimer seem like they’ve been around forever, and they’re all at the end of their contracts. What might be the two best options, however, are a little bit younger, but should still be more affordable than the $2 million per year the Avs were giving Francouz to keep the trainers busy. Casey DeSmith and Laurent Brossoit are both going to be free agents. DeSmith (2.98 GAA, .895 SV%) is coming off a decent season with the Vancouver Canucks, and Brossoit (2.00 GAA, .927 SV%) was stellar as Hellebuyck’s backup. Either of those would bring experience and plenty of quality to the backup spot, easing a bit of the pressure on Georgiev.
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Salary cap gymnastics get tricky – namely when you have three of the league’s top players in Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen. They get especially tight when you have Gabriel Landeskog’s $7 million salary coming back on the books as he returns from injury. Rantanen’s contract also looms, as his current deal expires after the 2024-25 campaign. With nine players set to enter free agency, and eight of them unrestricted free agents, next season’s roster could look quite different. Some of that change has to be in the crease. While regular-season wins and awards are exciting and fun, this team’s aspirations are nothing short of another Cup, and with good reason. It’s imperative the team adds someone to lighten the load for Georgiev in the regular season, so that he can carry the load for them in the postseason.
