Who Starts in Goal for the Avalanche in 2022-23?

On July 7, the Colorado Avalanche made potentially the biggest trade they will make all summer long. The Avalanche traded for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers in exchange for three draft picks (this year’s third and fifth round picks and next year’s third round pick). Some would say it is a small price to pay for a goalie. But will he be the starting goalie, or will head coach Jared Bednar go with the familiar face of Pavel Francouz in the crease?

Alexander Georgiev

Georgiev is a left-catching goalie that can slide very quickly from post to post. He can cover a lot of space using his leg pads in the butterfly and the push-off.  He plays a very similar style to Henrik Lundqvist in that he kicks the puck away to the boards and knocks it out of high danger zones. Georgiev burst onto the NHL scene as Lundqvist’s backup in the 2018-19 season and started the most games for New York in 2019-20, earning a 17-14-2 record. He unfortunately lost the crease to Igor Shesterkin in 2020-21 and has earned himself a 23-17-4 record in the backup role since.

While playing in New York, Georgiev has played 129 games (starting 117 of them) while having a .908 save percentage and 2.94 goals against average. This last season, he was reported to have asked for a trade due to a lack of playing time and was told to be patient as the Rangers worked on a deal. New York wasn’t able to get a transaction done before the deadline, but he was moved right before the 2022 NHL Entry Level Draft when it was clear that the Avs would not be able to sign Darcy Kuemper to an extension.

Joe Sakic’s thoughts on Alexandar Georgiev 

Pavel Francouz

Francouz is a right-catching goalie that is aggressive in the crease. He likes to come out and make himself big and lets up very little on rebounds. Francouz has played his whole North American career with the Avalanche organization, starting with the Colorado Eagles in 2018-19 and becoming the backup in Denver in 2019-20. An unfortunate hip and knee injury led to him missing the entire 2020-21 shortened season, but he was back with a vengeance last year.

Playing not even half the total games of Georgiev, Francouz has a 36-14-5 overall record and has a lot of playoff experience under his belt. Francouz has played in 13 playoff games with a personal best six-game win streak in the 2022 playoffs. During his time with the Avalanche, Francouz has posted great numbers. He has a .921 save percentage and only allows 2.46 goals on average per game.

Comparison

Georgiev and Francouz play two very different styles. Georgiev’s style of play may throw the Avs defenseman off, since they will have to work a little harder to retrieve pucks (the Avs are used to goalies that swallow pucks up). There is always an adjustment period for a new team as was seen last season with Kuemper (going 4-5-1 in the first ten games of the year), but this may take a little longer. Georgiev tends to stay back in the net and is not nearly as aggressive on the shooter as Francouz is. The defense will have to take more action in this matter by taking away the passing lanes and pushing the shooter out to the boards. Josh Manson and Cale Makar are both very good at doing this, but they can only do so much.

With Francouz, there won’t be an adjustment period at all for obvious reasons. Francouz could easily slide into a role that would bear a heavy load on him. He showed in the playoff run this past season that he has the confidence from his teammates and fans as well. With his aggressive style of play, he tends to close off the shooting faster than Georgiev would and it makes it an easier game for the defensemen. 

Conclusion

Although Francouz has better numbers than Georgiev does, experience in workload will play a big factor in the decision making process for coach Jared Bednar. Georgiev has a full regular season under his belt already as a starter in New York, where the most Francouz has played in one season was 34 games in 2019-20. President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic has also said that the Avalanche traded for Georgiev with the intention of him starting. 

I think the split will start with 50 games for Georgiev and 32 for Francouz. The one thing that could change this would be if Francouz goes on some kind of hot streak and wins the crease. Experience is oftentimes the deciding factor when it comes to these situations. In this case, Georgiev wins out with twice as many starts than Francouz. This experience will help make Georgiev the 2022-23 starter for the Colorado Avalanche.

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Editor’s Note: Brennan Vogt is contributing as a guest columnist for Full Press Hockey this offseason. He is currently the social media manager for Eurolanche, a European-based Avalanche fan group. Brennan’s previous writing experience includes articles for Denver Nose Bleeds.