With the news of prospect Justus Annunen signing his entry-level contract yesterday, we’re naturally using that as the jumping-off point for today’s roundtable topic seeing as how he is one of the prospects coming off strong seasons that really boosted his profile. Today’s topic: Given the strength of his play in Finland last year and at WJCs, is Justus Annunen…...
Calvin Pickard will start for the Toronto Maple Leafs against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, Friday night at Pepsi Center
The first period wasn’t even over and Semyon Varlamov was already thinking bad thoughts. A lousy, stinking intra-squad game on Sept. 17, the annual Burgundy-White scrimmage, had the Colorado Avalanche goalie feeling bluer than blue after the first few shots he faced. The game wasn’t even nine minutes old and Varlamov had already given up goals to White forwards J.T.…...
Jonathan Bernier, a one-time No. 1 goaltender with the Toronto Maple Leafs who had a strong season with the Anaheim Ducks in a backup role in 2016-17, will sign a new free-agent contract with the Colorado Avalanche Saturday, NHL sources tell BSNDenver. Terms of the contract are not yet available. Bernier, 28, had a cap hit of $4.2 million with…...
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…...
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.…...
As BSN first reported in April, the Avalanche indeed went ahead with the decision to protect goaltender Semyon Varlamov for the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft. The incoming Las Vegas Golden Knights will not be able to select the Russian goalie, nor any of the other 10 Avs players on the protected list, which was released Sunday morning. It is…...
While the Colorado Avalanche season is over, eight Avalanche players are participating in the IIHF World Championship hockey tournament. Granted, it is not the Stanley Cup playoffs but after such a gut-wrenching season, one can hope some of the struggling players rediscover their joy of playing and go into the offseason with some confidence. With that in mind, an…...
It has been a topic of hot debate among Colorado Avalanche fans and pundits, the question of who the Avs should protect in the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft from the new Las Vegas Golden Knights team. The Avs can only protect one goaltender, so either Semyon Varlamov or Calvin Pickard would have to be exposed. The goalie that will…...
On Friday night at the Pepsi Center, sticks were raised in the air not unlike glasses of champagne during a toast. “Here’s to a brighter future!” would have been the proper caption to a photo of the moment when Avalanche players saluted the crowd, after a youthful lineup beat the playoff-bound St. Louis Blues. The caption to almost any…...
The big news out of Avalanche headquarters had nothing to do with Saturday night’s rematch with the Edmonton Oilers or anything else with the final few games down the stretch of this abysmal season. Rather, it had everything to do with the early part of next season. The NHL announced Friday morning that the Avalanche will play in Stockholm,…...
DETROIT – Joe Louis himself would have been ashamed. In the building named after the great boxer, in the building where so many previous Colorado Avalanche teams battled to the last, bloody second, the current version of the Avs went out with a feeble whimper in their final game ever at Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Red Wings, on…...
The St. Patrick’s Day and Pi Day edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly covers both the angst and excitement from the past week, with both pie and green beer as well as the stinkier corn beef and cabbage.
In a battle of the league's worst teams, the Colorado Avalanche fell in a 1-0 snoozer to the Arizona Coyotes.
While the Colorado Avalanche may not be playing for anything in the season's final month, goaltender Calvin Pickard is playing for everything.
The Avalanche managed to fight their way to playing some quality hockey, yet still haven't gotten the results they are looking to achieve.
The Colorado Avalanche are in last place in the NHL. They know it, they hate it, and they don’t know their way out of it. Their 6-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of an increasingly hostile home crowd featured all the hallmarks of this failing Avalanche team – poor goaltending, defensive breakdowns, and a complete lack…...
The Colorado Avalanche revealed flashes of brilliance but disappointing results in the past week. Like Thanksgiving leftovers, it's been a mixed bag.
The Colorado Avalanche are off to a rocky start, but Luke Steer explains why you should expect the tide to turn.