The condition of Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz is far from improving, and a trade or signing appears to be on the cards for the organization, which has some options to remedy the situation.
As journalist Frank Seravalli of the website Daily Faceoff suggested last week, the Avs need to explore options as Francouz struggles to recover from adductor surgery. Ice hockey expert Adrian Dater also confirmed that management is considering the idea of a compromise and among the options is obviously Casey DeSmith, who belongs to the Montreal Canadiens. However, the names Jaroslav Halak and Dan Vladar would also be high on the list of candidates for the position of deputy to the regular Alexandar Georgiev.
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Halak is out of contract and told the website sport.sk that he wants at least a No. 2 goalie position on a National Hockey League team. The 38-year-old Slovakian played with the New York Rangers last season and posted a 10-9-5 record, a 2.72 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
For his part, Vladar played 27 games with the Calgary Flames in 2022-2023 and has a two-year, $4.4 million contract. Last year he hit .895 but was 14-6-5.
DeSmith was acquired by the Habs by temporarily bringing Jeff Petry to Montreal from the Pittsburgh Penguins. General manager Kent Hughes remains open to sending him elsewhere in the coming weeks.