The Avalanche announced on Monday that they have re-signed goaltender,
Peter Budaj, to a new 1-year deal worth $1.25 million. Budaj, 26, was scheduled to be a restricted free agent come July 1st, but the team decided to keep his services in check and have him around to likely be the back-up in the 2010 season.
In 2009, Budaj split the goaltending duties with
Andrew Raycroft, winning 20 games, one by shutout and also posting an assist for 45 pool points. Those numbers did not sit well in the standings or in many fantasy pools, so it is widely believed that the Avalanche are now shopping for some more goaltending talent. Budaj, in this case, would serve as a competent back-up to whoever they pick-up. Saying that, Budaj's fantasy value will likely take another hit, unless the talent the team brings in is sub-par and Budaj would have to reprise his role as the number one guy. Look for Budaj to still get some quality minutes in the Avalanche net, just maybe not the 3,200+ minutes he had in 2009.
| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Milan Hejduk | John-Michael Liles | Peter Budaj |
| Ryan Smyth | Ruslan Salei | |
| Wojtek Wolski | Brett Clark | |
| Paul Statsny | Scott Hannan | |
| Marek Svatos | Adam Foote | |
| T.J. Hensick | | |
| Cody McLeod | | |
| Chris Stewart | | |
| Darcy Tucker | | |
The small cap hit that Budaj has is a benefit to the team that now has 15 players signed on at an annual cap hit of $45.9 million, leaving about $10.8 million remaining for the remaining 8 players. The Avalanche will have plenty of players to look at this summer and we are still awaiting word as to whether or not
Joe Sakic is returning for another year.
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