Briefs: Stewart Recalled; Budaj to Start

Peter Budaj will make his 1st start of the season Friday night at the Pepsi Center

Just a quick post tonight for a few announcements.

Cody McLeod is going to be okay it seems. Coach Joe Sacco said McLeod’s vision seems to be okay after he took a stick to the face during the second period of Wednesday’s shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild. As a precautionary measure, Sacco is keeping him out of the lineup for the next 2 games or so. As a result, Chris Stewart has been called back up to Colorado after just two games with the Avs’ AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters. It would nice to seem him play with some fire while his up here to give the coaches something to think about, but I have a feeling his stay will be a short one, and he’ll be sent back down when Cody Mac gets back.

In two games with the Monsters, Stewart was held off the scoresheet but collected 2 PIMs.

Big news for Peter Budaj. The team announced that he will be making his first start of the year on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The last game Budaj started was back on September 24th, a preseason game against the Dallas Stars. The Avs lost that game 3-2 despite outshooting the Stars 34-16. Budaj finished with a measly .813 Sv%. Of course, that was preseason. I’ve always been very confident in Peter Budaj as a back-up goaltender. One of the top back-ups in the league even. I would also argue that despite our problems with goaltending the last few years, Budaj has been our most consistent netminder.

Here’s to hoping the long layoff  has only made him hungrier to get between the pipes and show the fans why management decided to give him another chance. Good luck Boods!