Colorado - Starting Goalie

[FFleming5]

Who's the starter in Colorado and what are the splits?

[The Biscuit]

I will say out of the gate Georgiev is the starter. I see him playing around 50-55 games and Francouz playing around 30-35.

[Axeman33]

Who knows???

I'd assume, considering the price they paid for Georgiev that he gets the first crack, but really this is anyones guess at this point. I can see a fairly even sharetime here unless one gets hot.

[Pengwin7]

Francouz' numbers, all around, are better than Georgiev.
COL has had other "#1" guys over past 3 years... but Francouz' has 57gp, 49gs, 36w, .921sv%.
That's significantly better than Georgiev.

Also Francouz is the guy that has been in Colorado and he's 32 years old and there for the CUP.
He's an entrenched part of this clubhouse.

Georgiev is 26 years old and the new guy.
Yes, he's making more money... but that doesn't mean he's the #1.

Ultimately, they'll play whoever is playing better.
To open the season, I expect the COL-veteran, Francouz, to get the opening game.

From there, I think they'll go 1/1/1/1/1/... i.e. alternating, until somebody falters fairly badly.
Then they'll give the better goalie a 2nd straight start, maybe a 3rd...

But I really don't think there's any reason for us to speculate that one goalie is "likely" to get more.
Call it 50/50 to open the season... with Francouz being the goalie more familar to the COL system.

[4T2]

I'm with Pengwin here. It's likely to be a split but Francouz has the inside track to winding up with more starts, around 60%+.

People talk about what Colorado traded to get him (2 3rds and a 5th) or his contract $3.4m like they are huge costs that guarantee him the starters role. But $3.4m is pretty decent for a solid backup Goalie these days and damn good for a 1B. None of the picks were super early either, so I don't think either of those factor in to the starter decisions

[Wonko]

Joe Sakic said that Georgiev was brought in to be the starter. Plus, they are paying him to be the starter. 3.4 mill per year vs Francouz at 2 mill per.

For some reason, despite Francouz's numbers the Avs don't see him as a starting goalie.

I see Georgiev getting the majority of starts unless he gets injured or falters badly.

[saucelife90]

IF both stay healthy and neither play horrendous for any extended length of time. it's probably close to a 55/45 split.

45 starts for Georgiev
37 starts for Franky

The reason the Avs don't see Franky as the #1 is because he can't stay healthy long enough to capture the #1 role.

[4T2]

Joe Sakic said that Georgiev was brought in to be the starter. Plus, they are paying him to be the starter. 3.4 mill per year vs Francouz at 2 mill per.

For some reason, despite Francouz's numbers the Avs don't see him as a starting goalie.

I see Georgiev getting the majority of starts unless he gets injured or falters badly.

I don't have an athletic subscription so not sure if the rest of the quote is in the article but here's what I found:

Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic didn’t shy away from naming his starting goaltender. It will be Alexandar Georgiev, the 26-year-old former Rangers netminder the team acquired in a trade with New York on Thursday.

“That’s why we did (the deal),” Sakic said.

That means Pavel Francouz is still the No. 2 netminder. Sakic said the team views him as “a great backup goaltender” and someone coach Jared Bednar can trust to play “30, 40 games.”

All that being said, it still sounds like 1A/1B situation with management pushing for Georgiev to get the 1A role. But ultimately their play will dictate that, so I still give the edge to Francouz.

[tweetdrivr]

Georgiev will stink and Francouz will start 50-55. If he’s healthy. May well want to invest in Anunen and/or Miner…

[stevegamer]

I'm guessing that it's going to end up something like 40-30-12 with Annunen getting the 12. As to which one ends up with the 40 versus the 30, that'll come down to health (looks sideways at Francouz) and quality of play (looks sideways at Georgiev).

[kovalchuk17]

Im pro-Francouz myself. 6-0 in the playoffs and doesnt even get the starter role cmon man

[Swarley]

I think Colorado will play georgiev more to start but I think Francouz will outplay him and become the 1a. If he can stay healthy that is.

[Wonko]

Colorado management saw something in Georgiev. They could have gotten quite a few good FA netminders for the price they are paying Georgiev. Why did they choose him? Poor scouting? They owed someone a favour? Maybe Georgiev was thrown to the wolves last season getting the tougher games in order to build Shesterkin’s confidence? Maybe Georgiev wasn’t all in anymore once it was apparent he was playing second fiddle to Shesterkin? Georgiev was once labelled the next guy for the Rangers too…. How have the last few goalies the Avs brought in as the ‘starter’ fared…. Grubauer and Kuemper?

Georgiev is by no means a slam dunk, but I would put good money on him getting around 50 games and 30 wins.

But hey, that is just My2Sense.

[SeaDawg]

I think Georgiev will be the starter. If the Avs were confident in Francouz as the starter, they wouldn't have brought in Georgiev and signed him to that contract.

Could Francouz eventually overtake Georgiev? I have no idea, but on the Avs Georgiev doesn't have to be stellar. Kuemper was only average last year and he was the starter all season and won the Cup.

[ericdaoust]

Politics favor Georgiev. They just traded for him and his cap hit is higher. That said I think Francouz is a better goalie right now. Overall a near 50/50 split if Francouz stays healthy.