The Colorado Avalanche made two huge trades over one year ago, acquiring Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators and Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks. In the trade for Wedgewood, the Avs included a goalie themselves in Justus Annunen. Despite not doing enough to stick around in Colorado, Annunen has found a home that believes in him. The Predators have signed the 25 year old to a contract extension on Monday.
Annunen was never really a household name at any point but he did quite well for the Avalanche during his time as a backup. Most notably, he backed up former Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Georgiev was included in the trade for Blackwood as general manager Chris MacFarland reshaped the team’s goalie crease.
He played in 29 games with 24 starts in three seasons for Colorado. During that time, he had a 16-9-2 record, which, again, is pretty solid. He saved 659 of 731 shots for a save percentage of .902, allowing 72 goals and a 2.81 goals against average.
Now, speaking from an Avalanche fan perspective, I thought that Annunen was more than servicable in his limited number of games. I felt that he deserved to be the team’s backup goalie of the future. The Avs just had to find someone to fill in as the starter. Some others agreed.
I would have been more than happy to see him back with the Avalanche for another year, but given how the goaltending situation has gone for the Avalanche following the departure of Annunen and Georgiev, nobody is going to blink twice and think, “I really wish we had kept Annunen.” That’s the beauty of hindsight. Had the Wedgewood dart not have stuck, we would be wishing that Annunen was still in bergundy and blue. Thankfully, that isn’t at the back of any Avalanche fan’s mind.
While Annunen could have seen more action this season in a backup role, he will continue to be the backup to Juuse Saros, who has been their main guy for a while now. Annunen might not be a starting goalie, but I think that the Predators could be onto something now that they signed him to an extension.