The Colorado Avalanche had what I thought was a wicked goalie pair of Theodore - Budaj but after some things started to roll that great pair was split up after Washington snatched Jose. So then I sat their trying to defend Francois Giguere, saying stuff like "it wasn't his fault" and "we just couldn't offer enough money" but as day after day went without us acquiring another goalie I finally stopped defending my teams GM. Yes, the "good" fan probably wouldn't turn on his GM but seriously, look at the guys who are now going to be between the pipes for my Avs and you'll laugh. Like let's just take a look at the Colorado Avalanche goalies:Andrew Raycroft:
GP W L OT MIN GA SO GAA
19 2 9 5 964 63 1 3.92
(I mean come on, if the stats don't prove it I'll get a Leafs fan to tell you how bad he was!)
Peter Budaj:
GP W L OT MIN GA SO GAA
35 16 10 4 1912 82 0 2.57
(these numbers are backup goalie numbers in my opinin and even though I think he's definitely getting better, Peter isn't ready for starting time)
So the only way to get better between the pipes is going to be trading or signing a goalie and one goalies name who's been bounced around is Nikolai Khabibulin's and that's been my target alllll off-season. So now I look at what we'd have to give up and I've already got a idea ready. Here is what I'm thinking trade - wise:
Chicago Get's:
Tyler Arnason
Ben Guite
Colorado Get's:
Nikolai Khabibulin
That way Chicago is shedding 7 mil of cap space and just getting somethingthing like 2 in return and really I see them getting an upgrade from Bolland in Guite and then you also get quite a great guy in Arnason as well. Then Colorado get's a fantastic goalie with Nikolai and will do a heck of a lot better with him! Also, we could put Budaj or Raycroft in the minors and then can be a goalie on - call as we'd call him up every game or two and swith it up and everything!
So yes according to a few sources I've talked to, the Habbi situation is going to heat up very soon and Colorado will be running and gunning and all he said was that Chicago wanted to shell salary and Arnason was for grabs so take it for what it's worth!
So thank ya'll for reading my blog and any of you can email me Av questions at lakeeriemonstersfan4life@hotmail.com and I'll be sure to answer as my life is Avs hockey and when I'm not talking about Colorado I'm bored!
Thanks, Banjo!
4 comments:
hey man sorry I odnt think that trade would work out
Bolland is a great prospect maybe Arnason,Guite for Khabibulin if any thing involving those 2 players. Arnason is waste I think Guite is pretty good. Hawks Would probably ask for like laperriere as a starting point though.
Yeah dude I just looked at Bollands stats and it is too much to give to us so I edited it out!
Thanks,
Banjo
I fully expect Chicago would never take Arnason back. I hear he has some off ice issues similar to a few players in Ottawa are rumoured to have. If it is true, which I expect is, they would surely want to keep him as far away from Toews and Kane as possible. I read somewhere that there was some sort of agreement between a certain player and Chicago management to keep their distance from Arnason in the off-season where they lived near each other.
Perhaps a Hawks fan can further divulge?
Calling Theodore and Budaj "a wicked tandem" is a bit of a stretch and unrealistic. Budaj put together a good string of games late in '06-'07 season and Theodore was very good from Jan. '08 through the Minnesota series but as a tandem they have been average at best and inconsistent. Now I do place some of the blame on the way Coach Q handled the goaltending but then again he's not the one actually on the ice.
I do agree with you that Giguere hasn't done enough regrading the Avs' goalie situation but in my opinion Theodore hasn't done enough for them to warrant a 2yr 9mil contract. If he's worth that much to the Caps, fine. But when I think of his 4.5 caphit, it really isn't that much of a difference from the 5.333 caphit he had here. Personally, I think that if the rumors are true that Giguere offered him a 2 year deal with a 3 mil caphit, that is more than fair. My basis is that while he had a great 2nd half of last season, where was this play for the last couple of seasons prior to that?
That brings me to my next point where I don't think I could disagree with you more about trading for Khabi. I like how you broke out stats because they don't lie, its all facts. Well here's the facts about Khabi and Theo, last year:
Khabi: GP-50, 23-20-6, MIN-2892, GAA-2.64, SV%-.909
Theo: GP-53, 28-21-3, MIN 3028, GAA-2.44, SV%-.910
very similar numbers with Theo getting the edge in every category. now, this past season has been Khabi's best since the lockout and granted in plays for Chicago but why would anyone, logically speaking, want a goalie that has a caphit thats 2.25 more the Theo's upcoming caphit and 3.75 more than what you were willing to pay Theo and since the lockout has been worse than Theo. The only plus I see is that he only has 1 year remaining on his contract so there would be no long term effect on the Avs cap. Not to mention, that if we traded for Khabi with your proposal we could possibly not be able to re-sign Sakic if he decides not to retire. Here's my math, with the current/most probable 23 man roster (without Joey obviously) the Avs have approx. 10.23 in capspace, Guite and Arnason have a 2.15 combined caphit so before factoring in Khabi, the Avs would hypothetically have 12.38 in capspcae, with Khabi thats down to 5.63. Could Sakic sign for less than 5.63, yes of course, but it wouldn't leave much wiggle room for trades if we wanted to upgrade any other position come the february trade deadline. and at that point having a bit of extra capspace is key as teams that are selling generally don't want to take on large salaries.
Now, I am all for ridding the Avs of Arnason but your kidding yourself if you think Chicago would want a second stint of him. They've already had him once and traded him away to Ottawa who then wouldn't even give him a qualifying offer thus he came here. He has shown very brief flashes of great offensive abilities (mostly against Edmonton) but he is slow, horrible defensively and is known to not have a good work ethic. IMO, we'd be lucky to get a 4th round pick for Arnason who should be replaced by Hensick this season anyway.
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