The Colorado Avalanche have got off to a cold start falling to the Vegas Golden Knights, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders.
With an 0-3-0 record to start the 2024-25 campaign, it only seems to be getting worse for the Avalanche and goaltender Alexander Georgiev as each game goes on.
Today on Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk chat about the Avalanche’s poor start to the season.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yesterday it was five past Alexander Georgiev, another rough night between the pipes for Colorado. Look, we will look back in the middle of the season and think “Oh that was an overreaction”,but with Colorado you know they will win five or six in a row at some point and it will be all good. It might not be because of the goaltending though, with the Avs goaltending situation this isn’t a new thing, Georgiev has struggled and he has struggled in the playoffs. It might get late early in terms of how they handle the goaltending.
Frank Seravalli: Well the goaltending for sure, Georgiev played 74 games last year at .897 it’s a really strong sample size to then come in this year and be sub .800. Do we think that’s going to continue? No, but I’d be really surprised if we get to Wednesday’s game and one of Kaapo Kähkönen or Justus Annunen isn’t starting. I think they have to they owe it to the rest of their team at this point everyone’s curious about Kaapo Kähkönen’s immigration status that’s kind of the big thing that’s holding things up, but you claim this guy off waivers, and if he’s ready to go he should be the guy that starts Wednesday to try and give this team a shot in the arm.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah and they get the Boston Bruins as well so not exactly an easy point on the schedule at this time of the year there are not very many of those. I mean also if you’re holding your breath for Kähkönen to save the day, this is a guy again he was on the Sharks at one point like this.
Frank Seravalli: I disagree, I totally disagree. If you look at Kaapo Kähkönen’s record in the NHL he’s well north of a .900 save percentage when you take out the San Jose Sharks they’ve been one of the worst teams in the league, one of the worst teams of the past few decades, the last few years. So, I’m not holding any lack of support in front of him against Kaapo Kähkönen. Did he wake up and suddenly forget how to play goalie? No, I don’t think that’s the case. So I’m glad to see him outside of that environment to see what he can do. It’s a big moment for him in his career. Yeah, the last time he was out of the Sharks organization in New Jersey, he had very good numbers. So I think that’s a good point. Also, early in his career in Minnesota, he did also have some solid numbers as a backup. And maybe for Colorado as well, you’re just sitting there saying, all right, just buy us a couple of weeks here, and we can maybe try to get Alexander Georgiev right. But definitely one of those stories. So, yeah, six games in New Jersey. I know, a small sample size of .923. 54 games in Minnesota, .907, 79 games in San Jose, .892. That significantly skews down your save percentage for a career to 899. He’s well north of that. Take him outside of one of the worst teams we’ve seen in a long time.
