DISQUS

SamIrwin · 1 month ago

Is everyone TOTALLY just forgetting about every season other than last year? EVERYONE SUCKED LAST YEAR. EVERYONE. You can't expect a goalie to perform well when your ENTIRE TEAM IS SUCKING. That's just not fair.
Budaj is a great backup. When he has to be counted on once every 10 games he shows up. When asked to deal with the pressure of starting consistently, he flakes. If there's one team in the league that can thank their goaltender for their success more than the Avs it's phoenix. Before the last 2 games of the Avs offense sucking, the Avs were 10th in the league for GA while Phoenix was 23rd. They're not great offensively which is a good start for Budaj. By just looking at the standings you think "oh Phoenix is a good hot team and we're starting Budaj" but looking at the stats you see that most of their success is from having an awesome defense.
I have faith in Budaj. He's a good BACKUP and he has a lot to prove tonight. So can we stop bashing him this season until we actually see him PLAY this season? A LOT has changed.

I think this team is exhibit A of what solid coaching and youth can do for an organization.

carmela_avs · 1 month ago

Oh and Avs just won 4-1.

carmela_avs · 1 month ago

I totally agree. I think that everyone is playing better this season, which should really help Budaj. I admit I'm not in favor of giving Budaj a raise after last year, but we've got to give him a break, everyone was playing bad last year. I don't know why a lot of people keeps bashing Budaj, it's not as if Anderson can play all 82 games. Budaj's gotta play at some point, and I think Avs fans should support him and hope that he wins some if not most of the games when he will be the starting goalie.

Avalanche_Fan_in_Mi · 1 month ago

Budaj had a decent game and I think the entire team had a much better game than their last two games anyway. Fans need to start coming back and filling up the Can. It would be great if they could start another sell out streak. I am hoping that I will be able to get to a game after the first of the year.

SamIrwin · 1 month ago

:)

Budaj had a GREAT game. Only goal he let in was tipped on the power play. A lot of goalies wouldn't have stopped that.
I'm SOOO glad the pretend fans who were bashing Budaj didn't go to the game

Paul_in_Golden · 1 month ago

I'm expecting good things out of Budaj. After all, most of the guys on the roster are playing better this year. Why won't Boods do the same?

I predict that after his Anderson / Roy-like performance in a few hours, we'll all love him again just the way we do Darcy Tucker.

I'm not saying he's going to score a hat trick tonight or that he'll even have a shutout. But I do think he'll be solid and help the Avs get another W.

Avalanche_Fan_in_Mi · 1 month ago

Is this the bad news you have to give us with the good news? From the interview I was listening to of Andy, it sounded like he was going to play a couple more games before the team got into a back to back game situation where they had to plug in Budaj. Hopefully, the team will get their act back together before then.

Niklas J · 1 month ago

A full 4 days of rest for Andy! Hope he doesn't get rusty or lose his edge.

westo · 1 month ago

mcleod with a visor... I need to see a picture

SamIrwin · 1 month ago

Good to hear! It's nice that he's getting his first start against a team whose success is all coming from defense.
Should be a tough game especially for our non-existent offense the past couple of games.
Defense should be a lot less of an issue for us than it was with San Jose.

REALLY glad to hear McLeod's back

wflan · 1 month ago

I hope that with the added snap and crackle created by the Highlander's presence in front of the net, our offense will find a little more pop.

I hope we're up to the challenge of Bryzgalov!

Sam · 1 month ago

This is a joke, right?

There's another goaltender on the Avalanche roster?

Who knew?

Sam · 1 month ago

This is a joke, right?

There's another goaltender on the Avalanche roster?

Who knew?

Rachel Polner · 1 month ago

No there's not another goaltender on our roster, just a player named Budaj who likes to wear the goalie's uniform and trick the referees and other team into thinking he's a goalie but they all find out soon enough and the trick is foiled.

Well guess I'm going to miss my first game tomorrow :(

vamjl · 1 month ago

I'm glad you weren't at the game. You clearly aren't much of a fan of the TEAM.

JB · 1 month ago

Dang it! I have tickets to that game and the last thing I want to watch is Budaj get lit-up all night long.

vamjl · 1 month ago

A**Clown

Avalanche_Fan_in_Mi · 1 month ago

I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to a showdown between Andy and Bryzgalov.

Aaron Musick · 1 month ago

Maybe having Budaj in will awaken the Avs' dormant offense and Cody McLeod and reenergize this team like he always does.

Rachel Polner · 1 month ago

Well anybody that wants my ticket, face value, just tweet me.

vamjl · 1 month ago

I have a 4 letter word in mind, it starts with a C. Why did you bother to buy tickets? You are clearly NOT a fan of the TEAM.

mdittok · 1 month ago

You know don't take this wrong but I would love your tickets; instead, I live in Florida as an Avs fan and must rely on either the TV or the computer to watch the games. Whether you like Budaj or not you have an opportunitiy many of us fans do not and win, lose, or draw (ok no more draws) I would never pass up an opportunity to watch them play live.

I remember Blue · 1 month ago

Go get 'em Flanders!

Welcome back McLeod! Get well soon Darcy!

mshockeyincentennial · 1 month ago

Well, it had to happen sometime I guess, but like most fans out there I'm not expecting much from Budaj because he has never given me any reason to. He's a mediocre player and that is NOT what we need right now. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a good performance, but against a team that is playing as well as Phoenix and with Bryzgalov in net, it's not a good sign for the home team! Why we didn't trade him is still a mystery to me!

vamjl · 1 month ago

You just started watching the Avs last year? Or maybe when he won 15 of 19 games it didn't impress you enough. Or maybe you're under the impression that goaltending was the ONLY problem the team had last year.

Uh, let's see, worst offense since the team moved to Denver, worst power play since the team moved to Denver, worst penalty kill since the team moved to Denver, and if I'm not mistaken, I think I might have seen Tyler Arnason on the 1st line at some point in the season. Last November (before the season was lost) Budaj had a stretch of 10 games where his GAA was 1.8 but somehow only got 5 wins.

I'm not saying he's Patrick Roy, but you can't blame last year on Budaj alone - who wouldn't lose confidence playing on last year's sh**ty team?

soothsayer · 1 month ago

Expecting the early soft goal...hoping to see the reason they gave him a 30% raise....