A trip back in time paves the way for Pavel Francouz's return to hockey

For Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz, a return to the ice has been turbulent.

During a preseason game earlier this year against the Vegas Golden Knights, Francouz left the game in the second period with an ankle injury that has kept him sidelined until now.

“I made it back during the summer,” Francouz said. “I was skating.  I was getting ready for the season, but unfortunately I got injured again in the preseason. I sprained my ankle and that was another tough one because as a goalie you need to stretch your ankle a lot. It was tough.”

The injury comes on the heels of a double-hip surgery Francouz received this past season. He last saw regular action in Game 5 of the second round Stanley Cup Playoffs on August 31st, 2020. Pavel Francouz stopped 31 shots before leaving the game in the third period.

That second round exit stung the Avalanche, but it’s not without recognition that both starting and backup goaltenders, Phillipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, suffered injuries during the Dallas series.

Following the procedure in 2021, Francouz began rehabilitation with the aid of Colorado’s training staff – effectively missing the entire season to allow proper time to recover.

“When I had the hip surgery it was a lot of rehab. I had to do my right side first and get better and then do the other one because you can’t do both at once,” he explained.

Francouz returned to the ice last weekend in a long-term injury conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles.

The Eagles eagerly welcomed him. In an unforeseen chain of events, Darcy Kuemper’s latest injury forced the Avalanche to call up AHL goaltender of the month, Justus Annunen.

Francouz stopped 42 of 45 shots in the series. A difficult first night tested him early.

The game resulted in a 4-1 loss; but to keep some perspective, two goals came on the Eagles penalty kill and one was an empty net goal.

The powerplay goals-against came nearly 5 minutes apart. The momentum of one carried into the next making for high-intensity, 5-on-4 hockey for Francouz to contend with. 

All of the goals came within the first period of play – Francouz followed that with five consecutive shutout periods.

Understandably, he was not completely satisfied with his first night back. 

“It would be great to give the fans the win tonight,” Francouz said. “They really deserved it. They were supporting us the whole time, so I feel sad about it. Otherwise, I’m really happy that I could play hockey again and enjoy the game.”

Francouz predicted the next night would be better after already growing more comfortable in net. He was right.

The Colorado Eagles shut out a hot Tucson team 4-0.

Ahead of the series, Francouz spent the week practicing with the Eagles. He revealed a couple things helped him to stay positive over the last three months while he recovered from the ankle sprain.

“When the second injury happened it was really tough because [I had] just made it back from the surgeries and I didn’t even think about it – that something could happen, something else,” he confessed.

“So that was kind of tough – the first couple of days. But, I tried to reset and take it as it is. My teammates helped me a lot. My family. So trying to stay part of the group and for sure our trainers in Colorado – back there in Denver, they’re doing a great job. They really helped me a lot.”

Following Saturday’s contest, Francouz hopped on the mic to address the fans as the first star of the game.

An emptying arena amplified the sounds of a locker room erupting into cheers heard throughout the lower-level as Francouz entered.

“Good game!” a teammate yelled.

The tone from night one had shifted to one of nostalgia. After starting most of his first season in Colorado with the Eagles in 2018-19, Francouz spoke about how much it meant to earn a shutout in front of a familiar home crowd.

“I’m really happy I’m back. I’m playing the game I love and it’s been great to be back here in Loveland playing for the Eagles in front of this great crowd, so I felt like I was traveling in time. It was great,” he said.

The current status of the Colorado Avalanche’s goaltending has many wondering what the conditioning stint may entail as the restrictions make it so Francouz won’t be able to stick around beyond this upcoming weekend.

He doesn’t know for certain, but Francouz is privately keeping tabs on the situation. His priority remains growing more comfortable in the net and focusing on the games at hand with the Eagles.

“I know Darcy [Kuemper] was hurt for a little bit. I think it’s not that serious, so I don’t really know about the situation now,” he said.

“I was really focused on the game tonight. I’m going to play a couple games here and we’ll go from there.”

Francouz is working on the small details of the game with Eagles goaltending coach, Ryan Bach.

“[Ryan Bach is] a great guy, he’s a great coach, and we’re in touch with the goalie coach from the Avalanche too so we work as one big group and I really appreciate his job and help.”

The Eagles are grateful to host Francouz in his return to hockey.

As for Francouz? He’s just happy to be back.

“Off-ice, I feel good now. It’s been something I’ve been waiting for a long time, and as I’ve said it was a tough period of life, but that’s what comes with sports. I think I handled it pretty well.”

When asked about the top line from last Friday night’s game, head coach Greg Cronin said simply, “We didn’t have one.”

The narrative changed after some adjustments in Saturday’s game.

Not to be outdone, fellow countryman Martin Kaut also impressed in his return after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Scoring two goals in the series, Kaut moved to the top line in night two and worked his way onto the the top powerplay unit.

“I thought he played great,” Cronin said. “He could have had three goals tonight. He could have had a couple goals last night. His game’s about skating [and] being tough to play against and I thought he did that tonight. He played well. I’m happy for him.”

With the help of assistant coach Aaron Schneekloth, the Eagles powerplay is beginning to click. Kiefer Sherwood scored a powerplay goal against Tucson on Saturday.

“We moved the puck better. We had better chances. We scored a goal – could have had a couple goals. They [Tucson] pack it in the middle and they block shots so they’re a tough penalty kill to get pucks through. They block a ton of shots, but I thought tonight we had an opportunistic goal and I think we had better movement with it,” Cronin noted of the improved powerplay.

Additionally, Andreas Wingerli was moved to center and Ryan Wagner was placed on wing to give the Eagles a better faceoff advantage.

The top line of Sherwood, Mikhail Maltsev, and Kaut accounted for five points this weekend. The gradual returns to the Eagles forward depth has helped to improve the Eagles up front.

Pavel Francouz could have even more opportunity to grow comfortable in net during this weekend’s series against the Bakersfield Condors.

Weekend Notes:

• Out last series (sick, under-the-weather): Cal Burke, Dylan Sikura, Dalton Smith
• Shane Bowers expected to return soon (1-2 weeks), skating in non-contact jersey and “feeling good” – Upper body injury
• Defenseman Dennis Gilbert out 6 weeks, hand injury