I’m back today after a brief hiatus. Ironically, the reason I’ve been away is not the one I originally planned for. Instead, I’ve been laid up with the same “middle body injury” that has everyone up in arms over - a stomach flu. I’ve spent most of the last few days laid up on the couch watching Deadwood on DVD, so bear with me, you cocksuckers, as I bring myself up to speed.
You might think that my recent bout with the flu would put me in the pro-Budaj camp along with Joe, Shane, many Avalanche fans and the entire population of Mo(ron)town. And you’d be wrong.
To me, this “controversy” has a few facets. Was Theodore healthy enough to start game 1? Is he the reason we lost games 1 and 2? And should he be the guy in game 3?
I think the first is a no-brainer, despite the outcome. The flu may have had me immobilized, but you need to keep in mind one important fact: I am a big baby. Jose Theodore is a hockey player and hockey players don’t miss games because of the flu. If he was able to play, he needed to be in there. And we all know he would have been skewered mercilessly if he had missed game 1 for something lame like the flu. Plain and simple, Theodore HAS to start game 1 unless he’s hurt. And anyone saying they wouldn’t have started them is being disingenuous.
I also take umbrage with the idea that Theodore is to blame for the two losses. The guys in front of him have played terrible hockey. I don’t care who is in net, you give the Wings chances like the Avs have and you will get lit up. You can certainly single out Theo for a couple of specific goals, but it’s irrelevant. The Wings have had so many chances that the outcome of the first two chapters would have been the same even if the story was changed a bit.
And yes, I know Budaj has stopped 39 of the 40 shots he’s faced. I think we have to keep in mind that Budaj came in to both games with the Wings already in control. He’s played very well in both games (as you know, I’m a Budaj fan and expected nothing less), but you still can’t compare the competition he’s faced to the competition thrown at Theodore.
Personally, I don’t think this is a difficult choice. Theodore gives us the best chance to win. It’s that simple. Will we win? I’m not betting on it - it feels like the wheels are starting to come off the bus. If we do lose game 3 - a real possibility, considering we’ve lost the last 7 2nd round games - I don’t think Theodore will be the cause.
Finally, not all Avs bloggers agree with each other!
I was going to expand on this on my site this morning but got caught up with work. I’ll probably paste what I say here into a new post like I did with my A2Y one
I don’t think starting Theodore is a terrible idea. But I do fear that one goal is all it will take to break this squad. With Budaj in, an automatic one-goal buffer is added to that breaking point.
That’s my main concern over starting Theodore. I could be overestimating the teams fragility but based on game 2, they didn’t appear to have anything left in the tank after goal number 3.
When it was announced Theodore was starting this game, I certainly wasn’t upset. I think either goaltender is a reasonable choice at this point but if Theodore is still feeling the effects of the flu, he simply should not be playing. And certainly should not have gone in the dressing room.
Manning up in this situation is completely different for a goaltender. A forward/defenceman can slack off a bit while on the ice but a goaltender cannot have any slack, especially against the Wings. When the flu takes you down, you can’t will your muscles to move that glove hand faster or push across the crease with more speed.
And it seemed pretty evident that this was the problem in game 1. His movements were sluggish, he was slow to react and his head didn’t appear to be in the game.
While I appreciate that Theodore is the #1 goaltender, there is no loyalty when it comes to winning. So I hope Q made this choice based on performance, not based on loyalty.
“Manning up in this situation is completely different for a goaltender. A forward/defenceman can slack off a bit while on the ice but a goaltender cannot have any slack, especially against the Wings. When the flu takes you down, you can’t will your muscles to move that glove hand faster or push across the crease with more speed”
I totally get what you’re saying. But I think the flu is being over exaggerated. I would only put the 4th goal in game 1 on Theo, and even that would have required a pretty good effort to make the save after a bad turnover by the Avs and a nice cross ice pass by the Wings. Otherwise, you have the perfect Franzen deflection, the Salei ill-advised hip check leading to the Cleary goal and the McLeod gaffe leading to the Zetterberg goal. I don’t think the flu was a factor. And I don’t think Budaj would have made the saves on the first 3 goals.
and yeah, it is kind of nice to see a little dissention for a change
I do not concur. I enjoy the “blogger circle-jerk”
thanks for the oh-so-subtle spelling correction!
In all seriousness, I disagree on a couple points. I thought the Zetterburg goal in game one (On McLeod’s gaffe) was pretty weak, and he should have stopped it. The 4th goal (Franzen Slapshot) was very bad as well. I also thought the Franzen backhander from behind the net, Theo went down too early on, as well as the terrible 3rd goal of the game.
Not that it’s all his fault, it’s definitely not, but he has to be better. he should at least have three of the above 4.
Nevertheless I have no problem with him starting game 3 (I do have a problem with the training staff letting him go in 1 and 2. Budaj is more than serviceable backup. Giguere was out for 3 games last year for the Ducks and they had no reservations using Bryzgolav. The wings had no reservations about using Osgood either this season). If he’s sick, especially so sick he couldn’t sit on the bench after he was pulled he shouldn’t have been in the game.
Firefox auto-spell FTW
Excellent post. After all the Theo-bashing earlier this year, I am surprised and very impressed to see your logical, quite pragmatic view on the matter.
If playing Budaj guaranteed a win, I don’t think any Avs fan would be against giving him the start. But if you assume the two goalies are what they were before this series, which is the only logical way to look at the issue, Theodore gives you a much better chance of winning the game than Budaj does.
Further, if you start Budaj over Theodore and you plan to re-sign Theodore in the offseason, you risk having a goalie with confidence issues.
For the short-term as well as long-term good, you HAVE to start Theodore tonight.
agreed as well that he must start tonight.
not sure I agree that he should have gone in game 1. as others have said 1 - 2 of those goals were pretty bad. let’s just say that budaj was in, and he stops one of those poor goals. the game was 3 - 1 when they red wings had their letdown. that game could have gone to OT!
I realize it’s not certain at all and hindsight is 20/20, but Theodore sounded deathly ill for game 1. he needed to be sat. But again, game 2 and tonight he should be back to starting. he’s the #1. hard to pin any blame for last game on him, and he should be at 100% tonight.
now if only the rest of the damn team wasn’t hurt…