From time to time when I see older family members I get asked: “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?” and like most people, I never had an answer to that question… until now. Over the last two weeks or so I have fallen madly in love with Avs goaltender Pavel Francouz. In honor of my newfound love, this blog is dedicated to the one and only Frankie.
The 29-year-old Francouz was born in Plzen in the Czech Republic. His professional hockey career, according to Hockey DB, began in 2009-10 in his home country. However, it wasn’t until the 2012-13 season that Francouz began to see time as a starter. He broke into the top Czech league with Litvinov Hockey Club. In his three seasons as a starter there he had .929 SV% and a 2.23 GAA. Those impressive numbers eventually drew the interest of KHL (Russia) side Chelyabinsk Traktor (positively insane name). Frankie began his time in Russia as a backup, but that didn’t last long. After putting up a .924 SV% and a 2.21 GAA he was promoted to starter for the next two seasons, and absolutely took over the KHL. Over two full seasons in the KHL, widely regarded to be the second-best league in the world, his GAA was never climbed over 1.80. It doesn’t matter where you’re playing allowing less than two goals per game for two full seasons is simply absurd. After all was said and done in Russia he had a career .950 SV% and a 1.62 GAA. With numbers like that you would expect teams in the NHL to be all over this guy, you would be wrong. The Colorado Avalanche organization was the only team in North America to offer Francouz a contract, and thank the lord above they did.
Francouz came to Colorado to almost no fanfare and was immediately sent to the Avs AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. I have to admit when the Avs grabbed Frankie I knew next to nothing about him, and I certainly did not expect this. There are plenty of goalies that do well in Europe but then struggle with the smaller ice surface, the speed, and quality chances that it creates. Francouz, as everyone in the hockey world is finding out, was not one of those goalies. His AHL numbers don’t exactly jump off the page at you. A .918 SV% and a 2.68 GAA aren’t exactly world-beating, but context needs to be applied. The Eagles had just been moved up from the ECHL and were not expected to be a great team. Yet they managed to find their way into the playoffs, lead by non-other than their AHL All-Star goalie Pavel Francouz. His numbers might not have been outstanding, but his play certainly was. That brings us to this season. Francouz began the season as the backup to Phillip Grubauer, and rightfully so, Grubauer had willed the Avs into the playoffs last year and was lights out during them. Then in late November Grubauer went down with an injury and Frankie stepped up for the better part of a month. When Grubauer returned Francouz returned to his backup role and held steady again until that fateful night in Colorado Springs. Early in the third period, Grubauer was run into by Ian Cole calling Francouz into action. Since that third period ended Francouz has been, in my eyes, the best goalie in the league, yes the whole league. In his seven starts since Grubi’s injury, he has a .943 SV%, a 1.71 GAA, and a shutout. He’s been nothing short of incredible during this stretch, and all-season for that matter. He ranks top five in both SV% and GAA amongst goalies who have played at least 15 games this season. His .929 SV% ranks second and his 2.24 GAA ranks fourth. Is that good? Seems pretty fuckin good. Considering Frankie’s current form it’s really tough for me to see how Grubauer jumps straight back into being a starter. Thankfully that’s not a decision I have to make, but I wish Bednar luck in making that call.
Now that I’ve pumped Francouz’s tires for almost 700 words lets get into the team that has won seven straight games and 8 straight on the road, the Colorado Avalanche. Ho-ly shit the boys are on a buzzzzzzzzing. That’s thanks in very large part to the play of Francouz, and the D as a whole. The Avs were the best defensive team in the entire league during February giving up only 2.07 goals per game. The penalty kill has seen a massive improvement as well. In the last four games, the Avs have not allowed a power-play goal against. I don’t have the mental strength to fact check this, but I would hazard a guess that its the first time all season they’ve gone this long without giving one up. That’s a massive development for a team this has dominated 5-on-5 all year but has struggled mightily with special teams. If the Avs can find a way to get the PP going before playoffs, watch out, cause this team will become a very serious contender.
Speaking of contenders, the Avs contenders for both the Hart and Calder trophies have found themselves in a spot of bother. It was announced just before puck drop of the Red Wings game that Cale Makar would be out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. As of writing this, no further information has been given about that injury. Thankfully by the sound of things, Makar shouldn’t be out too long. The problems for MacKinnon, however, aren’t injury-related but might be more surprising. During this stretch of seven straight wins, MacK has not recorded a single goal and has only tallied four assists. While I’m positive this is driving him insane it’s actually not the worst thing for this team. For much of the season, the Avs have struggled to win low scoring or tight hockey games. When they have found a way its been in large part due to MacK (the Columbus game comes to mind). During this stretch of games, they’ve found ways to win without relying on him. Now I don’t think this cold streak is going to last much longer for MacKinnon because he’s simply too good of a player. Hopefully, he’ll have a monster March and find himself with a Hart trophy at the end of the season.
I know there wasn’t much talk about the games this week, but the games didn’t exactly blow the roof off. The Avs played smart in all four games and took care of business with D and timely scoring. That’s what good teams do, they find different ways to win. So lets all just sit back and enjoy this really good snow, and start salivating cause the playoffs are just a month away!
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The Snow Report 