The Colorado Avalanche have sustained several injuries to their goaltenders in recent days, prompting speculation about just what, if any, moves head coach Patrick Roy may be planning to make to alleviate the situation.
Starter Semyon Varlamov is on injured reserve after hurting his groin. Back up Reto Berra is reportedly "out for a while" after being injured in Colorado's 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Back up to the back up, Calvin Pickard, did not fair particularly well in his NHL debut, surrendering four goals on 27 shots after replacing Berra, according to HockeyDB.com.
Thus far, in response to the spate of injuries, Roy's only move has been to recall goaltender Sami Aittokallio from the American Hockey League's Lake Erie Monsters, NBC reports.
Aittokallio, 22, has yet to play a game this season.
In 36 games with Lake Erie last season, he was 15-15-3 with a 2.65 GAA and a .909 save percentage. The Tampere, Finland native was Colorado's fourth-round selection (107th overall) at the 2010 NHL Draft.
Pickard, also 22, boasts only a fair amount of AHL experience himself.
Varlamov is reportedly set to return in only a week. But in the meantime, talk continues to build that a potential move could be made to shore up the position.
One name that has been bandied about in recent days is that of Martin Brodeur, the very man who has shattered every single one of Roy's career records. He is the NHL's all-time leader in regular season wins - surpassing Roy in 2009 - losses, shutouts, and games played, along with a variety of league and New Jersey Devils records, according to Yahoo!
"Not right now," said Roy, per the Denver Post's Mike Chambers, when asked if he or the team were planning on making a move, according to NBC.
"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."
The match of Brodeur and Colorado doesn't exactly pass the smell test - Brodeur and Avalanche goalie coach, Francois Allaire, don't see eye to eye stylistically and have something of a complicated history. Colorado gives up a lot of shots on a night-to-night basis and Brodeur is most comfortable playing behind a strong, shot blocking defense.
But all that doesn't mean it's not possible.
Brodeur is one of the greatest goalies of all time. He's a free agent and has said that this is most likely his last season. Whether or not Roy makes the move - or any move for that matter - remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain; were this to happen, it would be a great storyline to follow for the remainder of the season.
