After years of searching for homegrown goalie talent, Avs hoping they hit it big with Adam Werner

Before we begin, a quick question for the class. In the last 20 years, how many full-time NHL goaltenders have the Colorado Avalanche drafted and developed on their own?

Anyone? Bueller?

The correct answer would be…one. That goalie was Peter Budaj, drafted in the second round, all the way back in 2001. While Budaj was never able to establish himself as a full-time starting goaltender, he did carve out a very long career as a dependable backup for several teams in the NHL. Between 1998 and 2015, the Avs drafted 16 goaltenders, with Budaj being the one big success story.

Before Budaj, the Avs did draft some goaltenders who had success in the NHL, like Brent Johnson, Marc Denis, and David Aebischer, but none of them ever became long term answers in net, and the former two spent the majority of their careers on other teams. In recent years, there have been a lot of misses.

Since Budaj, the closest the Avs have come to developing one of their own was Calvin Pickard. After a promising start to his NHL career, things teetered out of control in the disastrous 2016-17 season, and since then, Pickard has become a bit of an AHL journeyman, struggling to stick with one organization.

Due to these developmental shortcomings, the Avs have been forced to use assets to acquire goaltenders from outside the organization. Reto Berra, Semyon Varlamov, and Philipp Grubauer were all acquired for multiple draft picks, and while the latter two trades worked out just fine, wouldn’t it be nice to see the Avalanche develop one of their own?

Enter: Adam Werner.

In recent years, the Avs have tried a bit of a different approach when it comes to drafting goaltenders, targeting Europe instead of North America. The benefit, of course, is that you can hold onto the rights of those European goaltenders longer than, say, a goalie drafted out of the CHL, and let them develop at their own pace.

Werner, drafted back in 2016 in the fifth round, was one of the first goalies the Avs selected with this new strategy, and so far, things are going according to plan. He spent his first two seasons after the draft in the Allsvenskan league in Sweden, which is essentially their version of the AHL, on loan from his Swedish Elite League team Farjestad. There was a massive leap in his second season, jumping to a .915 save percentage from .892 the year before. That’s the type of improvement you want to see any young player make.

The 2018-19 season was his real breakout season, though, and unlike a goalie drafted out of the CHL, he was allowed that extra year to develop before the Avs had to make any decisions where they may lose his rights.

Called up to play for Farjestad of the Swedish Elite League, he posted a .926 save percentage in his 26 games, and that stellar play earned him his entry-level deal with the Avalanche. All along the way in Sweden, the Avs were keeping a close eye on him and his development.

“We had a lot of communication the last three seasons,” Werner told DNVR after his second full practice with the Avs. “I talk a lot with them, and Jean-Ian (Filiatrault) is their goalie development guy here and we met almost six times last season, so we talked a lot.”

Some fans may remember that Filiatrault joined the Avs when Francois Allaire was brought on, as he initially worked with the Avs goalies in the AHL system. He has since transitioned into his new role of Development Goaltending Coach with Ryan Bach as the goaltending coach for the Colorado Eagles. Between those two and NHL goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila, the Avs seem to have more coaching in place to help their goaltenders than ever before, and Werner gets help from all of them.

“We talk sometimes,” Werner said about Parkkila, who works with the NHL goalies. “He watches my games, some clips, and he talks with Ryan (Bach), the goalie coach down there, and we have a three-way conversation so it helps me and it helps Ryan.”

Werner, who was called up to the Avs because of starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer’s minor injury, is taking advantage of his one on one time with Parkkila. After his first practice, he stuck around an extra 20 minutes after everyone had gotten off to get some extra work in with the Avs goalie coach, leaving me waiting for my next opportunity to speak to him (poor old me).

He’s doing everything he can to make the most of the NHL practice time, and on Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets, that hard work in practice paid off. Pavel Francouz was forced to leave the game due to injury in the first minute, allowing Werner to come in off the bench. From there, everything was smooth sailing. He looked cool as a cucumber in net, getting better as the game went on, on his way to a 40-save shutout. That shutout included several great saves on noted sniper Patrik Laine. Practicing against one of the NHL’s best likely helped.

“It’s perfect to practice with these guys,” Werner told DNVR exclusively. “To take shots from MacKinnon in all of practice today, that’s a big challenge and you need to be fast and you need to be ready all the time, so I’m learning a lot here.”

When both Avs goaltenders inevitably get healthy, Werner will head back to the Colorado Eagles, where he’s off to a nice start in his first season in North America, posting a .908 save percentage in nine games with the Eagles. He had one rough start in which he had to be pulled early after four goals, and if you take that game out of the equation (which, in the real world, you cannot), he’s at a .922 save percentage in his eight other appearances.

The 6’5″ Werner, who towers over most everyone in the Avs locker room, is happy with how things are going.

“It’s been pretty good so far,” Werner said. “I need to do some small adjustments here and it’s a little different play, but so far so good I think.”

The small adjustments he’s talking about come with getting used to the smaller ice rinks in North America compared to the ones he’s played on in Sweden.

“It’s those, what we call, bad angles,” Werner said. “From the corners and up to the dots, it happens so much after they come close to the net because the rink is smaller. It’s some stuff around the posts and of course, be faster. The game here is faster so try to beat the pass every time. It’s a much smaller rink here so it happens so much quicker, so you need to be a little more ready all the time.”

The other big adjustments Werner has to make may not be noticeable until later in the season. The Eagles are scheduled to play 68 games this regular season. His team back in Sweden, Farjestad, only played 52 regular season games last year. The big difference between the two leagues are the back to back games, something Werner didn’t have to deal with much back in Sweden.

“We start a little earlier back in Sweden but we play a lot more games here,” Werner told DNVR. “We play much more back to back in the AHL. We played like three back to backs last season so that’s a big difference so you have to find new ways to prepare your body and brain if you play back to back.”

And do you like playing in those back to back games?

“I like it. It’s great. You love to play games, so of course it’s fun. The body feels pretty good when you practice so much. I think it’s more the brain. You just have to find ways to be 100% focused there every night and that’s the biggest challenge, I think.”

Before Werner’s 40 save shutout performance blew his socks off, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar had liked what he had seen of the 22-year-old goaltender.

“I think he looks good in practice,” Bednar said before the Avs left for their road trip. “I’ve talked with the coaching staff down there and what he’s been able to do and our guys that have gone in to see him, and they didn’t know where exactly he’d fit into the lineup, but he’s been playing pretty good and giving them a chance to win every night. Now he’s here seeing some NHL shooters and that’ll be good for him and good for his confidence and at some point, he’ll go back and carry the load for them.”

Soon enough, the plan will be to get Werner back in his role as the starting goaltender of the Colorado Eagles to continue developing at his own pace. And the Avalanche will be watching, coaching, and doing everything they can to make sure he is the one to break through and give the Avs a much needed “win” on the goaltending development scoreboard.