Avs rocked by injury and COVID-19 heading into regular season

Bad news for the Colorado Avalanche heading into the 2021-22 regular season as today the team announced that head coach Jared Bednar has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The team also announced that goaltender Pavel Francouz will be out of the lineup 3-4 weeks with a lower body injury.

First, the news on Bednar:

Head Coach Jared Bednar will not be behind the bench for the Avalanche’s next two preseason games against the Dallas Stars following a positive COVID-19 test. Assistant Coaches Ray Bennett and Nolan Pratt will coach the team until Bednar’s return.

Bednar will miss at least the Avs' next two pre-season games against the Dallas Stars and is questionable for the team's season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks next Wednesday. Here's hoping that he pulls through with no lasting effects.

And the news on Francouz:

Pavel Francouz will be out approximately 3-4 weeks with a lower-body injury.

Remember, Philipp Grubauer is no long with the Avalanche franchise after being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion draft, so now the Avs will have to fall back on long-time backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper as their starter. For what it's worth, Kuemper was solid with the Arizona Coyotes last season putting up a 2.56 goals against average and .907 save percentage in 27 games. For comparison, Francouz put up a 2.41 goals against average and .923 save percentage in 34 games for the Avs last season.

Any way you look at it, the Avs have taken a big, big, BIG step backwards in net this season and it looks now like they'll have to lean on Kuemper in the short to medium term. Look for 26 year old Hunter Miska to get the call up from the AHL's Colorado Eagles to back up Kuemper until Francouz is healthy enough to return.

Meanwhile, Grubauer will be patrolling the crease in Seattle with Chris Driedger and the pair have all the makings of the best goaltending tandem in the NHL during the Kraken's first season. If you're an Avs fan, you can't help but feel like your team got absolutely hosed when it comes to goaltending this past offseason.