Avalanche begin season with goalie Pavel Francouz injured

The Colorado Avalanche would not have won a Stanley Cup in 2022 had Pavel Francouz not stepped up for the team but now the 2023-24 season will begin without the beloved backup goalie.

Francouz was placed on the NHL’s long-term injured reserve list (LTIR) on Tuesday ahead of Colorado’s first game on Wednesday. In addition to that roster move, Colorado called up goalie Justus Annunen and claimed former Arizona Coyotes netminder Ivan Prosvetov off of waivers earlier this week. Those two will likely compete for a backup job behind second-year Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev.

Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said Francouz’s injury is “indefinite.” Francouz is battling a groin injury he suffered way back in May.

Frankie is the lone goalie left on the Avs roster from their cup run two seasons ago. He played seven games in stepping between the pipes for Darcy Kuemper, who suffered an eye injury. In those contests, the Avs went 6-1, as Frankie put up a .906 save percentage with a 2.81 goals against average.

Francouz played in 16 games last season, with a 9.15 save percentage with a 2.61 goals against average, Colorado won eight of those games. Georgiev played in 62 games a season ago, and the Avs had Annunen and two others contribute a handful of games in goal.

Meanwhile, Annunen is one of the Avs top prospects, a 23-year-old goalie taken in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He’s gotten into four NHL games over the last two seasons, recording a 2-1-1 record and a .859 save percentage. He’s been mostly in the AHL, playing 91 games over the past two years.

Prosvetov, who starts with the Colorado Eagles is 24. He has played 125 AHL games, tallying a .895 save percentage with a 54-54-11 record. He played in the NHL last year and has 13 games overall in the top league.

Avs goalie coach Jussi Parkkila has succeeded in Denver, maybe he can develop a prospect and work on a project while Francouz takes to the shelf for a while.

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