Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

So, what do the Avs have in Reto Berra?

We ask this question for two reasons:

1. Reto Berra is playing really well. The 28-year-old is 4-3-0 with a .953 save percentage. Saturday in Montreal, he stopped 39 of 40 shots in a 6-1 Colorado win.

“He’s been great, every game he’s played this year, he’s given us a chance to win every night,” Avalanche d-man Francois Beauchemin told ESPN.com. “He’s making big saves at key moments. That’s what you need from your goalie when you want to be successful.’'

Berra’s performance in Montreal gave the Avs their third straight win. He was excellent in the first two as well.

2. Those Semyon Varlamov trade rumors. For a budget team like the Avs, might it be tempting to move the guy with the $5.9 million cap hit and hand the reins over to Berra -- signed through next season for a $1.45 million cap hit -- and young Calvin Pickard?

Pickard, 23, was the 49th overall pick in the 2010 draft, the fourth goalie chosen that year. He played very well during his 16 games in the NHL last season, and he’s playing well again in the AHL this season.

The reality is, the Avs can’t keep all three goalies forever. Varlamov has struggled this season, but there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t regain his form. At the very least, GM Joe Sakic must be curious to know what he could get for the 27-year-old.

The question Sakic would have to ask about Berra is whether his current form is sustainable, or at least close to sustainable. He’s only started seven games this season, and his career NHL save percentage is a modest .909.