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Jose Theodore was almost the Avs’ backup

theoasanavap

James

Every off-season has at least a handful of fork-in-the-road moments that lead you to ask “What if?”

The Denver Post’s Adrian Dater captures one of those scenarios for the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche’s netminding rotations. Jose Theodore admitted that he almost returned to Colorado to back up Semyon Varlamov before the team ultimately went with another former award-winning goalie in Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

That pivotal moment is working out surprisingly well for both sides.

Theodore has surprised as the Panthers’ No. 1 goalie, going 14-8-5 with a .918 save percentage and 2.48 GAA with two shutouts.

Giguere might be the backup in Colorado, but he’s shown plenty of glimpses of that old Conn Smythe Trophy-winning form. Jiggy is 11-6-1 with oustanding individual numbers: a .923 save percentage and 2.12 GAA with one shutout.

It’s fascinating to imagine how different both the goalies’ and teams’ situations would be like if Giguere didn’t sign that contract with Colorado. In a rare instance for these scenarios, it’s likely that all parties are glad it happened exactly the way it did.