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The Colorado Avalanche have a goaltending problem

The Colorado Avalanche have a goaltending problem

The headline says it all. The Colorado Avalanche simply don't have the goaltending skills they need to be a serious threat right now.

Alexandar Georgiyev has been sent off in both starting games so far and has allowed eight goals in 61:56 minutes, which corresponds to a save percentage of 0.680. Justus Annunen didn't look great either, posting a .765 save percentage in two relief appearances. That led to the team claiming Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers, but it's unlikely even he will make the difference.

Colorado Avalanche reporter Jesse Montano joined Daily Faceoff Live on Monday to talk about the team's struggles in net and what could happen in the long run:

Tyler Yaremchuk: “The numbers at the beginning are ugly. How worried are the duo Annunen and Georgiev at the moment? And how high is the long-term concern here? Are these two guys they can trust to do their jobs and take them running?

Jesse Montana: “I think trust is the word that’s getting a little bit shaky in this area right now. Both goaltenders have shown at different times that they are capable of winning games for this Avalanche team. If you look back at Georgie's first year here, he was a 40-16-6 goalie. He played 62 games, winning many of them and showing that he could carry the load.

“But since last year he has been inconsistent. There were ten good games followed by nine shaky games, and there were five good games followed by six shaky games. Annunen, he's a goalie they drafted in the third round. They developed him, he was a really strong AHL goaltender for them. But he has very limited participation in the NHL and looked shaky.

“So they removed Kaapo Kahkonen from the exemptions just a few days ago. He is going through the immigration process and is from Winnipeg. I think that was our first sign, so to speak. I was also told that they had Yaroslav Askarov in their sights. You can tell they were a little nervous about this tandem over a full 82-game season. And that's a little elevated at the moment.

“In the long term, unfortunately for Alexander Georgiev, the Avs have shown that they are not really capable of paying goaltenders high dollar amounts. So for me this is probably Georgiev's last year here. Either he continues the inconsistency and they don't want to deal with it in the future, or he plays really well and they don't want to pay him.

“As for Annunen, he really needs to show something soon that will take minutes away from Georgiev, because he just hasn't done that in the two games he's come in relief.”

You can watch the full episode here:

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