Avalanche loses goalie Calvin Pickard to Las Vegas Golden Knights in NHL Expansion Draft

When the Colorado Avalanche decided in April that Semyon Varlamov would be the one goaltender it would protect in the NHL expansion draft, there was a chance it would come at the cost of young goalie Calvin Pickard.

Wednesday night, that price was paid when the Las Vegas Golden Knights selected Pickard to be part of their inaugural team. With the expansion draft coming in reverse order of points achieved last season, Pickard became the first official player to be announced in Golden Knights history.

The Avalanche now must look for a new backup goalie.

It might have made a lot of sense, on paper, to protect Pickard instead of Varlamov. After all, Varlamov is coming off groin/hip surgery, and his play has declined the last couple of seasons. Former Avs coach Patrick Roy lost some faith in Varlamov, especially when it came to mental toughness.

But Avs general manager Joe Sakic felt it made more sense not to take any chance on losing their former Vezina Trophy finalist. Varlamov has proven he can be a reliable No. 1 goalie, while Pickard essentially failed to do that when Varlamov went down midway through last season. While Pickard had several excellent games and was well-regarded by teammates, his numbers were mostly mediocre.

Sakic and the rest of management believes Varlamov will give the team the best chance to win, when he returns to full health.

Who might the next backup be? Prospect Spencer Martin probably has the best chance, though there are a lot of goalies potentially available when free agency opens July 1.