Two Goalies and a Forward for the Avalanche

The Avalanche seemingly solved their goaltending concerns with a couple of signings on Friday afternoon, putting pen to paper with both Semyon Varlamov, who they acquired in a trade with the Capitals earlier in the day, and Jean-Sebastian Giguere, who signed as an unrestricted free agent.  Varlamov received a 3-year deal, worth $8.5 million, while Giguere signed a 2-year deal, worth $2.5 million.  The Avalanche also added some help up front on Friday, signing Chuck Kobasew to a 2-year deal, also worth $2.5 million.

If you were to look at the deals, you would assume that Varlamov would be your opening night starting goalie, getting the better deal and his future his still shining brightly ahead of him.  Varlamov has starting goalie qualities to him, but fell out of favour in Washington, hence a move out to Denver.  If you read about the trade through the link above, you would know the whole story to Varlamov's move.

Giguere will provide the Avalanche with some veteran insurance for a couple of seasons, plus he'll likely act as a part-time goalie coach to the young Russian starter from time-to-time.

In Toronto, Giguere lost the number one job by the middle of the season to James Reimer, which limited Giguere's appearances to only 33 games, winning 11 and walking out of the season with only 22 points to his name.  With the volatility of Varlamov's game very present, Giguere may find himself more as a 1(b) in Colorado before too long.

As for Kobasew, he's bounced around a number of times in his career already and Colorado will be his fourth stop in the NHL.  In 2011 with the Wild, Kobasew played in 63 games, scored 9 goals and added 7 assists.  It has been a long time since he has been a fantasy pool player in the league and likely won't make that jump again in 2012, but will still be a roster player.

The Avalanche started the day well below the salary cap floor, but they made good strides in climbing up into regular season eligibility with a number of signings through the day.  I now have the Avalanche up at a projected cap number of $41.7 million for 19 players and one buyout.  The Avalanche will likely be looking at another couple forwards and a seventh defenseman in the weeks leading up to training camp, not sure how much of a hurry they will be in to accomplish that though.