Even with injuries to Semyon Varlamov and Reto Barra meaning a potential netminding tandem of Calvin Pickard and Sami Aittokallio on Saturday night in Montreal, coach Patrick Roy doesn’t think his Colorado Avalanche need to sign a veteran goalie like Martin Brodeur.
“Not right now,” said Roy, per the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers.
“Is it something that could change? Everything is possible, but I’d be very surprised. The injury to Varly is not serious enough for us to panic, and same thing on Reto. Reto is day-to-day. We want to see our young guys. We have to give them a chance.”
Pickard and Aittokallio are both 22 years old. They each have a decent amount of AHL experience. Which, we suppose, is something. (Though Saturday nights in Montreal are pretty far away from the AHL.)
Pickard made his NHL debut last night in Ottawa, surrendering four goals on 27 shots in a 5-3 loss.
The Avs, as a team, are off to a tough start. Not only have they run into injuries, they’ve only managed to win one of their first five games. Combined, they’ve been outscored 17-7.
Related: Brodeur staying ‘patient,’ willing to wait for team to ‘develop a need’