With news today from Frank Seravalli, among others, that Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz is not recovering as well as hoped from off-season adductor surgery, the Avalanche will look for some immediate help at backup netminder behind incumbent Alexandar Georgiev. Several options are available as the Avalanche move forward.
Whether that be via a trade, free agency, or their own system, there should be an ability for Colorado to fill this void fairly quickly. The prognosis of Francouz will likely play a role in how desperate the Avalanche are to fill this role (it better).
The Plzen, Czech Republic native played 16 games for the Avalanche last season and had a .915 save percentage as well as a 2.61 goals-against average. He’s been a serviceable backup for Colorado over parts of four seasons, with his most impressive season coming in 2019-20 when he had 21 wins and a .923 save percentage.
There are multiple options to start this season in the event Seravalli is correct (he usually is).
4 goaltender replacements for Colorado Avalanche: Justus Annunen
This may be the easiest option for the Avalanche to begin the season. Annunen was a third-round pick of the Avs in the 2018 draft out of Finland. He’s a big goalie, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing around 210 pounds. He’s played almost a handful of games at the NHL level, and although his numbers aren’t much to speak of, Annunen is the only goalie besides Georgiev and Francouz who has seen NHL action in the organization.
Annunen also has a team-friendly contract at a cap hit of only $775,000 for this season. It will be difficult to find a serviceable goalie on the open market making less money. Last season, Annunen played 41 AHL games for the Colorado Eagles and produced a goals-against average of 2.54 and a save percentage of .916. These numbers were very similar to what Francouz provided as the backup at the NHL level.
As Annunen becomes a restricted free agent after this season, a call-up to the big club will give the Avs time to determine if they believe Annunen is part of the future of this organization, or if they can let him walk in free agency after this season.
It’s likely that the Avalanche will count on Alexandar Georgiev to play a bulk of the early season games if Francouz is out, and that may suit Annunen to both develop further and also be able to help the Avalanche out at the same time.