Pavel Francouz to miss entire season
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Avalanche are down their backup for the whole season. The hits just keep on coming for the Colorado Avalanche.
Sunday night it was announced Pavel Francouz would be out for the entire season. He has been battling a lower-body injury for some time after the 2022 Stanley Cup championship run.
Going through multiple surgeries and finding it difficult to find a path back, the 33-year-old will be shut down for the year. He will go back to the Czech Republic to recover and spend time with his family. He is now the second Avalanche member to miss the entire season, joining Gabriel Landeskog.
Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season due to a lower-body injury. He will return to the Czech Republic with his family for rest of the year. pic.twitter.com/HoinjxUdEM— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 12, 2023
In what is the final year of his contract, it’s highly unlikely we see the return of Frankie in an Avalanche jersey at the start of the 2024-25 season. This is due to a combination of things - age, health, and others waiting in the pipeline.
He will likely end his Avalanche career having played 73 games, recording 44 wins with 2.49 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. Francouz was a very underrated tool in the run to the Stanley Cup, having played in relief several times when Darcy Kuemper was out injured with his eye issues.
Avs fans started “FRANKIE” chants for goalie Pavel Francouz after shutting out the Oilers @BR_OpenIceColorado takes a 2-0 lead pic.twitter.com/2Zd8W17cdK— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 3, 2022
The last 48 hours have been absolute hell for Avalanche fans. This news, along with Artturi Lehkonen’s injury woes, and the losses faced on the ice as well have not boded well for the team at all. Who knows where we go from here, as the Avs will now have Alexandar Georgiev, Ivan Prosvetov, Justus Annunen, and Arvid Holm to work with between the Avalanche and Eagles organization for the season.
Plenty of questions about who will become the solidified backup netminder will arise from this. At this point, it seems highly unlikely they’ll make a move to get another goaltender, and cross that bridge when the offseason approaches. Regardless, best of luck to Francouz in his recovery back home and hopefully he can live a good life off the ice first before making a comeback to play once again....
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