The Colorado Avalanche acquired goalie Philipp Grubauer and defenseman Brooks Orpik from the Washington Capitals for their #47 pick in this year’s draft.
The Colorado Avalanche got the 2018 NHL party started early with a pre-draft trade. The Avs are sending the #47 draft pick, which is their own, to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik.
The centerpiece of that deal is the 26-year-old goalie, Grubauer. Here are his details:
Philipp Grubauer
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 191 pounds
Position: Goalie
Catches: Left
Stats Last Season: 15-10-3, 2.35 goals against average, .923 save percentage
All Time Stats: 43-31-11, 2.29 goals against average, .923 save percentage
Contract Status: RFA
Philpp Grubauer goes a long way toward solving the Colorado Avalanche’s goalie crisis. He’s young, just 26, so he can grow along with the young core of the team. What’s more, in his six years in the NHL (all with Washington) he’s maintained good consistency.
The goalie is a bit of an odd duck in that he’s out of Germany, Rosenheim specifically. He’s got good size on him — maybe not quite lanky, but relatively tall and slim. Here’s how Hockey News describes him:
"“Is a very good athlete and has excellent puck-stopping ability. Is also capable of making spectacular saves look routine. Needs to fill out his 6-1 frame, since there are questions about his stamina and ability to carry the mail as a 60-game starter in the professional ranks.”"
Grubauer has spent his entire career as a backup for Braden Holtby. He’ll probably have to sit for another year not being the number-one as Semyon Varlamov still has one year left on his contract. However, Varlamov is breakable, and Grubauer could well see more goalie duties than he did with Washington. (Jonathan Bernier played 37 games.)
Grubauer is a pending restricted free agent. He’s coming off a one-year contract worth $1.5 million. If the Colorado Avalanche think Philipp is the goalie of their future — and he could well be — then they’ll probably offer him term — maybe even four years.
Philipp Grubauer in action:
This means Jonathan Bernier will not be re-signed.
The Colorado Avalanche also acquired defenseman Brooks Orpik in the trade. Here are the details on him:
Brooks Orpik
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 217 pounds
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Stats Last Season: 0 goals, 10 assists
All Time Stats: 16 goals, 169 assists
Contract: 1 year left, $5.5 million AAV
When I saw that the Colorado Avalanche had acquired Brooks Orpik, I remembered that Joe Sakic said four years ago that he’d invited Orpik and Matt Niskanen to talk while they were free agents, and both declined.
Well, now the Avs own you, Orpik. (But that doesn’t necessarily reflect well on us.) In truth, the Capitals needed to get the 37-year-old Orpik’s contract off the books.
So, Brooks is highly unlikely to ever skate as an Avalanche. The teams is looking to get younger and smaller/speedier. Orpik is a big, bruising shutdown defenseman. They’ll either trade him or buy out his contract.
Side note: Orpik is also the defenseman who broke one of our rookies, Vladislav Kamenev, in the youngster’s debut:
Nope, ol’ Brookie doesn’t have good karma with the Avs.
As noted, the #47 draft pick is Colorado’s own. The Avalanche have a second draft pick, the #58, as part of the Matt Duchene trade.