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Avs commit to keeping butts in the seats: re-sign Budaj and Koci

As reported by Mirtle's twitter feed. Believe it or not, both re-signings generated a bit of controversy from some fans. Maybe it's the offseason (well for the Avs) so every little nugget of news is over analyzed, but I don't think either signing is worth getting worked up over.

There's a small, but very vocal, contingent among Avs fans who think Weiman deserves a shot and would be a better option than Budaj.

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Weiman's AHL stats (.907 save% 2.85 GAA) are actually worse than Budaj's were (.917% 2.70). These stats aren't everything, and you can make an argument that Weiman played behind a weaker team than Budaj, and I could delve into it some more and look at ES save percentage etc, but I'm not going to exert that much effort on a backup goalie.The AHL website doesn't have the best stats page for comparison, but if you scroll through team-by-team Weiman's stats struck me as average for an AHL goalie. This isn't to say that Weiman is any better or worse than Budaj, but there's really not much to suggest either way. I guess the most damning indictment of him is that Sacco coached him for a couple years and the Avs still decided to re-sign Budaj.

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Weiman may deserve his chance in the NHL, but the Avs need to do what's best for the Avs, not whats best for Weiman. I think going with Weiman, and letting Budaj go offers a lot of risk, and the reward is minimal. Weiman isn't going to challenege Andy for the starting job.

I guess what it boils down to is, What do you want from your backup goalie? Budaj is reliable, a good locker room presence, and an extra scout on the bench, especially for shootouts. He's proved he's a capable backup. So I guess I'm just not really in favor of fixing something that isn't broken

I don't understand the Koci re-signing, but enforcers are pretty much interchangeable parts at this point in the NHL. There are very few enforcers who get more than 2-3 shifts a game and actually contribute to the actual hockey. I'd have liked to see the Avs pursue a guy like Laraques, someone who can win one of those staged bare-knuckle brawls, but I don't really care because Koci will go out for his traditional beating and then play will resume.

It may sound like I'm anti-fighting. I'm not. I love fights, but those that arise in the course of the game. Enforcer fights have become a sideshow. I don't really care whose under the clown makeup.

All in all, exerting much effort on this, you know, like uh this blog post, is all much ado about nothing.