The other day, when the Avalanche announced the recall of goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik from the Lowell Lock Monsters, my first reaction was to assume either David Aebischer or Peter Budaj had a minor injury that might prevent him from suiting up against Boston on Wednesday night.
Or that the Avalanche, perhaps on the verge of acquiring a veteran to replace the injured Steve Konowalchuk, was about to make a deal to send one of the goaltenders – perhaps even Kolesnik after a showcase NHL game – to another team.
It turned out, of course, the Avs were more dissatisfied with their goaltending than they had let on.
Yes, Aebischer has had a couple of awful games – the latest last Sunday against Buffalo – but he also has had streaks of play at least as solid, under the new NHL standards, as his overall play in 2003-04.
That’s part of the reality in the re-launched league: coming up with a reasonable standard of evaluation for goaltenders, taking into account both the opening up of the game that has increased scoring and the adjusted eye test.
The eye test is you can see when a goalie is playing well, regardless of the numbers.
Aebischer seemed to be failing that part of the test, or was giving coach Joel Quenneville visions of believing he was watching Chris Osgood or the other goalies in the St. Louis revolving-door crease of recent seasons.
Kolesnik was in the net for the win over the Bruins and the heroic – at least for Kolesnik – seven-round shootout victory over the Devils, but it would be ridiculously premature to anoint him the No. 1. Also, as Quenneville acknowledged, carrying three goalies is one too many and the Avs need to make a move, after Monday night’s game against Ottawa.
Safest bet: Budaj goes to Lowell, a curious demotion given the organization’s raves about him during training camp and when he played well – except in shootouts.
Longshot: GM Pierre Lacroix really does have something up his sleeve. It would take considerable maneuvering for it to be part of a deal for Florida’s Roberto Luongo, but don’t rule that out.
Captain Foote
After missing four games with a groin muscle problem, Adam Foote is back in the Blue Jackets’ lineup and even has been named the Columbus captain. Behind him, former Avalanche goalie Marc Denis is facing a new challenge from Pascal Leclaire, previously considered a bust after going eighth overall in the 2001 draft. Leclaire has played well during the Jackets’ recent surge of competence, and at least for the moment, Columbus is carrying three goalies – Leclaire, Denis and Martin Prusek.
Of course, carrying three goalies on the active roster raises eyebrows and suspicions nowadays that some sort of deal might be imminent. Not that that’s supposed to sound familiar, or anything.
No Gretzky exemption
The NHL is continuing to apply the praiseworthy rule about suspending players who instigate fights in the final five minutes and fining their coaches. The latest instance came when Minnesota’s Kyle Wanvig was suspended one game for instigating at the 16:25 mark of the third period against Pittsburgh, and Wild coach Jacques Lemaire drew the automatic $10,000 fine. Zdeno Chara drew the suspension for Ottawa earlier in the week.
The rule states that “a player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime shall be assessed an instigator minor penalty, a major for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. … In addition, the player’s coach shall be fined $10,000.”
There must be a Latin phrase in there, between the lines, that explains why the rule is applied to all teams that aren’t coached by Wayne Gretzky.
Drury’s leadership
Buffalo went into the weekend with a record of 10-1-1 in its past 12, so the victory over the Avalanche last Sunday certainly wasn’t a fluke. And this from Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell, reacting in the Buffalo News to some talk that captain Chris Drury wasn’t a forceful enough leader: “He leads our team in different ways that nobody in the media knows. He sticks up for each one of us, whether it’s a fan or media or the coaches. … That’s what you need in the locker room. He’ll say how the players are feeling. That’s such great leadership.
“If we need a day off he definitely speaks (to the coaches). If he doesn’t like something, he speaks. It’s not in a negative way, it’s just something the players need, and he does something about it. We don’t ask him to do it, he just does it. It’s the first thing I noticed when he came here two years ago. I was really surprised at him standing up for us, and right away you have respect for the guy.”
Picking on Bruins
Boston looked terrible against the Avalanche last week, and it’s going to continue, meaning the Bruins’ management and ownership will have to find someone else to blame besides Joe Thornton. Maybe they’ll settle on Glen Murray, who liked playing with Thornton, but won’t be very productive working with the somnambulant Alexei Zhamnov. Murray makes $4.1 million, so any team up against the cap would have to be very creative to acquire him.
Keith’s back
Keith Tkachuk is playing well for the Blues after returning from a 15-game absence with a rib injury, caused when he accidentally jabbed himself with his stick.
Also, the Blues – with the worst record in the NHL – are wondering whether they would be doing better if he hadn’t reported to camp looking as if he could play sumo hockey between periods, but not during the game itself. The Blues suspended him, a move he now – to his credit – is saying he understands.
The nerve of the Blues, expecting the second highest-paid player in the league – at $7.6 million – to be in shape.
And though this clearly is a franchise in turmoil, in part because Bill and Nancy Laurie are trying to unload it, Tkachuk helped establish a rotten tone at the start of the season. Like Jeremy Roenick, he should be left off the Olympic team, too.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
