Final Grade: Jose Theodore

by David Driscoll-Carignan on May 22, 2007 12:43 PM MDT in Final Grades 2007

Final Grade: D+

Midseason Grade: C-

Season Stats: 33 GP, 1,748 Min, 3.26 GAA, 13 W, 15 L, 1 T, 0 SO .891 Sv%

Splits:

1^st Half: 22 GP, 1237 Min, 3.10 GAA, .899 Sv%

2^nd Half: 11 GP, 510 Min, 3.64 GAA, .870 Sv%

Career: Not a career year for Jose.

Report: Closing these out with this week with three Quebecois who have seen better days in the NHL...For Theodore, it was not quite the rebound season he was hoping for...Ditto for Avalanche fans...Struggled out of the gate, lost his job in December, and then played worse in the 2^nd half...Some people put some of the blame on coach Quenneville, which certainly has some merit...Only had one stretch of more than 3 consecutive starts all year...That stretch was a typical Theodore up and down stretch: 2 goals, 5 goals (pulled), 1 goal, 2 goals, 4 goals...Hot and cold like that all year – the antithesis of Budaj...There's talk that the team played better in front of Budaj...Statistically true, but only by a slim margin...Goal support is 3.26 for Budaj, 3.12 for Theo...Shots against average is 28.1 for Budaj, 29.8 for Theodore...In other words, that's not the reason...Honestly, it seemed to me like he just has a hard time focusing for a full 60...Gave up way too many goals from beyond the faceoff circles...Didn't fight hard enough on pucks moving through a screen...His GAA while shorthanded was 8.05 (Budaj's was 6.75)...Just a meh performance all-around.

Fast Fact: Theodore has not had a shutout since the lockout (75 games)

2007-2007 Salary: $5,500,000

2007-2008 Status: signed ($6,000,000)

Outlook: There's a lot of debate out there on what the team should do with Theodore. Some say we should buy him out and sign a cheap veteran backup. It wouldn't amount to much in the way of cap savings, but it would rid the club of the baseball-cap wearing albatross and might even improve our goaltending. Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of attractive options – cheap or otherwise – on the free agent market this summer. Michael Wall was added at the deadline, but it's too early to expect him to be backup in the NHL (he did play 4 games with Anaheim this year). My money is on Theodore spending one more year on the bench in Denver.

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Woah I am so glad you finally did Theo. I hate him so much! He was not ready at all to become a starter again and I dont think that he ever will be. He has a knee problem and hip problem, so then why would he ever make a good goalie. To be goalie you need to be able to move laterally with quick speed, and he cant do that. He had too many “Theo Moments” as I call them, where he would end up flat his stomach with the puck across the line. I agreee, I think he will be here ON THE BENCH for one more year. We gave him a shot and he blew it….goodbye and get out! He needs to re-gain strength again, but not here. The Avs dont have to time to be messing around with a player like him. Go Budaj!

by Kylie on May 22, 2007 6:33 PM MDT reply actions

Theo is going to have some serious hat hair in ’08.

by Dario on May 23, 2007 8:27 AM MDT reply actions

As always, pretty good analysis on Theo. I might mention, that even though he seriously struggled on the ice, when he was demoted he didn’t cause a fuss and fully supported Budaj. He could have poisined the locker room but decided to handle the situation with integrity, so he deserves a lot of praise for that.

I also have two very lengthy blog posts on the Avs options for Theo next year.

Part 1

Part 2

I’d love to get your, and others, takes on it. (P.S. I am in the “Keep Theo as a backup next year camp”)

by Colin S. on May 23, 2007 8:54 AM MDT reply actions

Colin,

I would visit your site more often but from work your blog is blocked by websense as a “club or message board”. If you get your own web address and lobbied Websense to be listed as a “news” site you might get more traffic. I can’t see the official Avalanche forums since they switched formats nor can I get to the HFboards. Got to wait until I get home to see those. Just fyi.

by Dario on May 24, 2007 9:41 AM MDT reply actions

Thanks for the tip Dario… I don’t have the means to pay for my own site right now, but at some point in the near future, maybe I’ll set up an account with a different company.

by Colin S. on May 24, 2007 12:49 PM MDT reply actions