The Avalanche on Thursday announced the signings of veteran backup goaltender Peter Budaj and enforcer David Koci to one-year contracts.
Both signed for what they made last season — Budaj $1.25 million, Koci $575,000.
The 27-year-old Budaj, the one-time Avalanche No. 1 goalie, played in only 15 games, starting 11, as Craig Anderson, brought in as an unrestricted free agent from the Florida Panthers, got most of the work and Colorado coach Joe Sacco seemed to have little faith in Budaj. Four of Budaj’s starts were consecutive, in early December, when Anderson was injured, and Sacco usually chose not to give Budaj one of the starts when the Avalanche played on back-to-back nights.
Despite that, Budaj was 5-5-2, and his regular-season numbers — a 2.64 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage — were nearly identical to Anderson’s. He earned a shutout Dec. 7 at St. Louis, a 4-0 Avs victory.
His re-signing isn’t a huge surprise, but it seemed possible he at least would try to see what else might be out there — including a team with an unsettled goalie situation in which he might have more of a chance to step up to the No. 1 job — after becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
The other issue was whether the Avalanche, based on the likelihood that Anderson would play all but only a handful of games again, would go with a backup making close to the league minimum, or roughly half of Budaj’s salary.
“Peter has been a valuable goaltender for our franchise over the last five seasons,” Avalanche general manager/executive vice president Greg Sherman said in a team release.
Koci, 29, played in 43 games last season, a career high. He missed part of the season with a broken hand, was scratched on many nights, and often played only early in games.
