Avalanche made right call in protecting Varlamov over Pickard

The old saying “The most popular player in town is the backup quarterback” applies to goalies too. The backup is the sentimental favorite, the “C’mon, give the guy a shot, let’s see what he can do” people’s choice. Then, they become the starter and when he has his first bad game, the peanut gallery starts up again for his backup.

Calvin Pickard never proved, in his time with the Avalanche, that he was worthy of any other designation than “backup.” In 80 career games with Colorado, his numbers were: 28 victories, 44 losses, six overtime losses. His goals-against average was 2.77, the saves percentage .914.

In the one season he was given true No. 1 playing status, 2016-17, when Semyon Varlamov was lost the rest of the way to injury, Pickard failed to show he was No. 1 material. Sure, he had some excellent games (a rousing home win over Detroit comes to mind, a strong showing against Chicago), but his goals-against average finished at .904 – well below the league average. Yes, we know: he played on a lousy team. It wasn’t all his fault. But he certainly wasn’t the solution around here either, was he?

He was a nice backup for the Avs in his time, but that was it. He had some nice saves percentages his first couple years, it was too small a sample size to get too excited about.

Originally, I was of the opinion that the Avs should protect Pickard in the NHL expansion draft and expose Semyon Varlamov. But I was of that opinion with the following proviso: that there was no way Las Vegas would take Varlamov, if available.

Well, guess what? Las Vegas GM George McPhee, my sources tell me, would have taken Varlamov if he’d been available. In that case, the Avs did the smart thing and protected him. Losing Varlamov for nothing would have been a much bigger front-office disaster than anything regarding Pickard.

We know, we know: Varly was terrible last year too. He’s got a big contract ($5.9 million the next two years). Granted.

But: Varly was hurt all last year. He tried to play with the wonky groin/hip issues until he couldn’t anymore. He’s nearing 100 percent health again, I’m told, and feeling great. The Avs don’t have any pressing salary cap issues, so his contract was always a red herring in any argument to expose him.

Varly has proven he is No. 1 material before. He carried the Avs to their last playoff appearance, 2013-14, finishing as a Vezina Trophy finalist. He’s got elite skill. Has he had trouble consistently showing them? At times, yes. Look, I’m not arguing here that Varlamov is Patrick Roy. I’m not even saying he’s an elite goalie at the moment. But I am saying that, unlike Pickard, based on what I’ve seen, he has the chance to become elite again. He’s still fairly young and he’s healthy again.

A lot has been made over the fact that Pickard is a nice guy, nice teammate, good to the media, etc. And that’s all true. But the Avs don’t need just nice guys. They need talent. Varlamov has more of that than Calvin Pickard. Las Vegas and McPhee, the guy who drafted him when he was in Washington, knew that and would have gladly taken him for nothing.

That’s why Joe Sakic and the Avs made the right decision in not allowing that to happen.