We’ve reached the virtual halfway point of the 2006-07 NHL season, and the Colorado Avalanche find themselves in an unfamiliar position: out of the playoff picture. Three points behind division rival Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference, the Avs have yet to find consistency in the first part of the season. Win a game, lose a game, win two, lose two, win three, lose three, on and on it goes…and where it stops, nobody knows.
Nobody, that is, except for one man: the much-maligned Jose Theodore, former NHL Hart Trophy winner. Readers may have to read that sentence one more time to digest it completely, but the fact is, Jose Theodore is a mere five years removed from being the toast of the NHL. Since then, Theodore has dealt with numerous off-ice distractions, from his familial ties with organized crime, to his public canoodling with platypus-faced heiress Paris Hilton. These distractions have allegedly combined to turn Jose Theodore into a has-been, a goaltender gone off the deep end. Goalies are notoriously quirky, and all it takes for some goalies is that little nudge to send their career into a tailspin. See: Jim Carey, Blaine Lacher. Has this happened to Jose Theodore? Is his career headed into the tank, with the remains being public autograph appearances and Rogaine infomercials?
Looking at the season thus far, super-sophomore Peter “Black Hole” Budaj has kept the Avs in contention, some nights in superhuman fashion. His performance in the Avs 3-2 shootout win over the Los Angeles UnMighty Ducks of Anaheim and Orange County on January 13th earned him the second star on NHL.com, while his performance two nights later in front of a national TV audience on Versus was nearly enough to take down the high octane Sharks, who got all their goals on the power play. It’s undoubtable that the Black Hole has made his mark on the Avs and the NHL thus far in his young career, but will he be able to carry the team into the playoffs? It’s awfully difficult to ask a young goalie to carry such a load, especially when he’s being asked to play 9 out of every 10 games. It’s my opinion that at some point, notorious goalie-killer Joel Quenneville will have to put some faith into Jose Theodore, and look to him to pick up some key wins for the team, if they’re to make the playoffs. I’ve always been of the opinion that if a goalie can fall apart that quickly, he can regain it just as quickly, especially at the relatively young age of 30. Can Jose Theodore regain the Montreal magic? If he can’t, the Avs will not make the playoffs for the first time in their Colorado history. If Quenneville doesn’t give him the chance, the Avs don’t stand a chance anyway.
