Avalanche Season Grades: Jonathan Bernier

Jonathan Bernier was The Man at times in his first season with the Avalanche. By the end, he was something of a forgotten man. Let’s assess the season overall:

Overview

Bernier played 34 regular-season games for the Avs, posting a 19-13-3 record, 2.85 goals-against average and .913 saves percentage. He faced 1,092 shots in the 34 games, a 32.1 average. (Semyon Varlamov faced an average of 31.3 shots per game).

He got off to a slow start on the season, losing four of his first six starts and allowing four or more goals in four of them. He kind of muddled along from November to December, a good game here, a bad one there, before turning into Superman for a solid month. From Dec. 31-Jan. 22, Bernier won nine straight games in relief of injured starter Varlamov. Two of the wins were against San Jose, and he stopped 83-of-87 shots in them.

Bernier continued to play pretty well into February, but then the injuries started. He suffered a concussion in a Feb. 16 loss in Winnipeg and missed three weeks. His first game back, March 10 against Arizona, he suffered another concussion and missed another 12 days. He would go on to suffer a bad infection from a cut on a hand, costing him more time, and after Game 4 of the first round against Nashville, Bernier went down again with an unspecified lower-body injury.

It’s fair to wonder, therefore, how good Bernier would have been in the second half had it not been for the lost time to injuries. He never seemed to get a rhythm back, and his playoff numbers (3.87 GAA, .883 saves percentage) ended his season on a bad note.

Biggest Moment

This would consist of the entire month of January. Bernier was the NHL’s No. 2 star of the month, compiling an 8-0-0 record, 2.10 GAA and .939 SP. His nine straight wins overall fell just two shy of Patrick Roy’s team record set in 1998-99.

The best game of the bunch, in my opinion, was a 45-save performance in a 5-3 win over the Sharks in Denver on Jan. 18, including 19 saves in the third period.

What’s Next

Well, good question. Bernier’s contract is up, and he can become an unrestricted free agent July 1. He made $2.75 million and is likely to want a raise. His agent is Pat Brisson, the Beverly Hills-based power broker who has a stable of high-profile clients, including Sidney Crosby and John Tavares.

The Avs don’t have much in the way of quality depth in the organization’s goalie pipeline. They signed KHL goalie Pavel Francouz recently to a one-year, one-way, $690,000 deal, but he is unproven and has posted some iffy numbers in international competition.

Should the Avs make a run at signing him to a longer-term deal, even with Varlamov still around for one more year on his deal at $5.9 million? Would he even want to sign here again, knowing he’s not likely to be the starter? These are questions still left to be answered by July.

Final Grade

B

I’m going to give this grade largely become of that big-time January run, which played a big role in helping the Avs become a playoff team again. No, the numbers weren’t nearly as good after that, and he just wasn’t very good at all in the playoffs. But I’m taking into consideration the injury factor on that, too.

My hunch is this was a one-and-done stint with the Avs, as paying free-agent high dollars to a guy who still can’t quite shake the “backup” label is maybe just too risky. If so, he should be remembered well by Avs fans for the tangible things he did to make it a little more fun around here this year.