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Goaltender Perspective: Jets, Avalanche Make Tough Choices

By Catherine Silverman

Nov 20, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (left) scores against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda (center) and goalie Reto Berra (20) during the third period at Pepsi Center. The Capitals won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 20, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (left) scores against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda (center) and goalie Reto Berra (20) during the third period at Pepsi Center. The Capitals won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /
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Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets among teams making goaltender adjustments to finish off November

For the NHL, Thanksgiving is a turning point.

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Teams that are still struggling to win games must decide whether they will continue competing for a playoff berth, or if they will begin restructuring their lineup for a future rebuild. Those who are looking for a playoff spot start to shop for necessary roster additions; those coasting to a rebuild start offering up those trade pieces for draft picks.

The end of November is also a pretty good reference point for evaluating a franchise’s goaltender situation, though — and a couple of teams have already started to make some shifts where necessary.

The Colorado Avalanche seem to be cutting their losses with recently acquired backup Reto Berra; after he allowed three goals in one period against the Arizona Coyotes, the team stuck in rookie Calvin Pickard; his subsequent 1.00 SV% in the final two periods earned him a start Saturday night against the Dallas Stars. With Semyon Varlamov set to return from injury on Monday against the Montreal Canadiens, Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy has made it clear that Pickard isn’t heading back to the AHL; with backup Berra on a three-year, one-way contract with the franchise, he could be looking at a trade (or even waiver status).

In another pleasantly surprising move, the Winnipeg Jets have given rookie Michael Hutchinson the nod to start against the Boston Bruins, who drafted him in the third round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Hutchinson is 4-1-1 to start the season; in comparison, team starter Ondrej Pavelec is 1-4-1 in his last six starts with the franchise. With many assuming that Pavelec was headed nowhere fast in Winnipeg, it could be that Hutchinson is gradually ascending to a starting role with the team.

Despite these two moves, two teams are still inexplicably sticking with their current goalie duos; the Arizona Coyotes have yet to announce anything regarding Mike Smith (who is now winless in his last seven starts) versus Devan Dubnyk (5-0-1 on the season), and the Edmonton Oilers are still sticking with the struggling duo of Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth.

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