Colorado Avalanche, The Right Goaltender Is Crucial

Who Should Own The Net

I assume many people outside the Colorado Avalanche fandom simply assume that it’s Varlamov’s net going forward, and it may be. But I think it most certainly is up for debate on whether it should be Varly’s net.

We’ve shown that he’s the least consistent in terms of letting the most bad goals by a far margin. In addition, he doesn’t make up for it in the high danger categories, despite Peter McNabb calling him the best breakaway goaltender in the league every freaking game.

Overall Reto Berra leads all the goalies with an adjusted save percentage of 94.52%, which is mostly because of his astounding high danger save percentage discussed earlier. However, given the course of this year I’d say the chances of him starting any number of games the rest of the season is close to naught.

So we essentially have a two horse race between Varlamov and Pickard, and the two are pretty different. One is proven in playoffs and experienced while the other is still young. One often cheats shots to try and make the spectacular save while the other focuses on his job.

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It truly comes down to what the Colorado Avalanche want out of their goaltender for the rest of the year. If they’re looking for consistency and a goalie who’s going to go out and do his job every night, the answer has to be Pickard with his phenomenal low danger save percentage. But if the Avs want the vet in, or decide that their defense is so terrible they want their goalie cheating plays to save a couple of backdoor tip-ins then Varlamov is the answer.

Who do you think should take the Avalanche to the playoffs? Leave it down below in the comments.