Well, I guess we can just write off the season right this second. The Avs held their annual Burgundy/White team scrimmage last night and it was a significantly one-sided affair. Burgundy beat White 9-0.
The starting goalie for the White team was Peter Budaj. He played only one period, and allowed two goals (on 12 shots), both by Jordan Leopold. Tyler Weiman replaced him in the second period and subsequently allowed seven more goals over the rest of the game.
Of course, the fact that Budaj allowed two goals---to a defenseman---while facing only twelve shots has no doubt convinced somebody (probably lots of somebodies), that he is a terrible goalie and that we have no choice but to rely solely upon Andrew Raycroft (7 shots, 7 saves).
Right. Because the Burgundy/White game is so indicative of how everyone will play the rest of the year. Bear in mind that Stastny, Wolski and Svatos were not present, or the fact that the lines were completely ridiculous (Tucker-Sakic-Stewart, really?), or the fact that it's still two weeks and change before the season starts.
Oh, but one thing I am willing to believe: Tyler Arnason has problems. His team scored nine goals and he managed zero points. Zero. And Arnason was on the second line playing with David Jones, who had a hat trick. In case you missed that, his linemate had a hat trick and Arnason had no points at all.
But, we'll apply the same standard to Arny as we will Budaj. The Burgundy/White game is about as predictive of future performance as my mutual fund prospectus was before all those geniuses with Harvard and Yale MBAs gang-raped our economy. So we won't throw Arnason under the bus based on one intra-squad preseason scrimmage.
We've got tons of other reasons to throw him under the bus.
Budaj, not so much.