clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Curse of the Ex-Avs

We've all done it. When we see a player that used to wear the Burgundy and Blue skate out against out team in a different jersey, we cringe in fear. We know what's coming: another night of Av killing.

But does the "Curse of the Ex-Av" actually exist? Does playing in a Avs jersey somehow make it easier to score against them later in one's career? Does the universe actually hate the Avalanche?

A bit of analysis after the jump...

I started by finding all the the Ex-Avs still playing in the NHL. Even though it's not a full analysis of every former player the Avs have ever had, it focuses on the ones still under contract with a NHL team. So basically, it looks at all the ones we still have to be worried about.

There's 36 of them.

Of those 36, a 8 of them haven't played against the Avs yet. That includes Kyle Cumiskey (ANA), Colby Cohen (BOS), Tomas Fleischmann (FLA), Brian Willsie (MTL), T.J. Hensick (STL), Mike Verance (TBL), Brian Elliott (STL), and Peter Budaj (MTL).

Of the skaters left, there are 8 players who have never scored a goal against their former team - Cody McCormick (BUF), Scott Hannan (CGY), Ian Laperriere (PHI), Ben Guite (SJS), Jordan Leopold (BUF), Johnny Boychuck (BOS), Jean-Michael Liles (TOR), Phillipe Dupuis (TOR), and Kurt Sauer (PHX).

That leaves 15 skaters and 3 goalies.

(The table looks best in the wide view - you can change it by clicking on "Wide" at the top right hand side of this page. Also, the colors correspond to the positions that they play: Gold = Right D, Red = Left D, Blue = Center, Purple = Right Wing, Orange = Left Wing, Green = Goalie.)

Skater Last Name First Name Pos Cur. vs COL GP vs COL GPG vs COL G vs COL A vs COL Pts vs COL S vs COL Sh% Post COL GP Post COL GPG Post COL G Post COL A Post COL Pts Post COL S Post COL Sh% GPG Dif Sh% Dif
Finger Jeff D TOR 1 1.000 1 0 1 1 100.0 105 0.076 8 25 33 97 8.2 0.924 91.8
Hendricks Matt F WSH 1 1.000 1 0 1 5 20.0 79 0.114 9 16 25 114 7.9 0.886 12.1
Wolski Wojtek F NYR 3 0.667 2 2 4 7 28.6 92 0.196 18 35 53 174 10.3 0.471 18.2
Richardson Brad F LAK 9 0.556 5 2 7 28 17.9 182 0.099 18 34 52 291 6.2 0.457 11.7
Stewart Chris F STL 2 1.000 2 0 2 4 50.0 28 0.571 16 8 24 84 19.0 0.429 31.0
Shattenkirk Kevin D STL 2 0.500 1 2 3 3 33.3 28 0.107 3 15 18 42 7.1 0.393 26.2
Selänne Teemu F ANA 18 0.778 14 10 24 64 21.9 302 0.480 145 154 299 916 15.8 0.298 6.0
Vrbata Radim F PHX 21 0.476 10 6 16 61 16.4 546 0.247 135 169 304 1624 8.3 0.229 8.1
Reinprecht Steven F FLA 23 0.348 8 12 20 35 22.9 438 0.201 88 161 249 624 14.1 0.147 8.8
Brunette Andrew F CHI 18 0.389 7 5 12 34 20.6 246 0.268 66 92 158 367 18.0 0.121 2.6
Morris Derek D PHX 22 0.182 4 3 7 31 12.9 612 0.070 43 152 195 949 4.5 0.112 8.4
Smyth Ryan F EDM 8 0.375 3 5 8 28 10.7 150 0.300 45 55 100 401 11.2 0.075 -0.5
Parros George F ANA 16 0.063 1 0 1 9 11.1 312 0.045 14 10 24 153 9.2 0.018 2.0
Tanguay Alex F CGY 23 0.217 5 15 20 27 18.5 370 0.238 88 230 288 520 16.9 -.020 1.6
Rolston Brian F NYI 32 0.219 7 12 19 125 5.6 790 0.311 246 295 541 2688 9.2 -.093 -3.6

Goalie Last Name First Name Cur. vs COL GP vs COL W vs COL OT vs COL GAA vs COL SA Vs COL SV vs COL SV% vs COL SO Post COL GP Post COL W Post COL OT Post COL GA Post COL GAA Post COL SA Post COL SV Post COL SV% vs COL SO GAA DIFF SV% DIFF %SO vs COL
Anderson Craig OTT 1 0 0 7.0 39 32 0.821 0 23 12 1 58 2.52 738 680 0.921 2 4.478 -.100 0
Raycroft Andrew DAL 2 1 0 2.5 63 58 0.921 1 41 17 1 83 2.02 914 831 0.909 3 0.476 0.011 33.33
Théodore Jose FLA 4 2 0 2.0 96 88 0.917 0 140 80 36 369 2.64 4012 3643 0.908 5 -.636 0.009 0


Facts Supporting the Curse of the Ex-Avs:

1. Every single ex-player that has more than 5 post-Avs SOG against their former team has a goal against them. Even the defensemen!

2. Almost all of the skaters have better Goals Per Game averages and Shooting % against the Avs than other teams.

3. Brad Richardson. WTF man? 5 of his 18 (28%) post-Avs goals have been against the Avs!

4. Raycroft has 3 shutouts since he left Colorado... and 1/3 of them are against the Avs.


Facts Against the Curse of the Ex-Avs:

1. Other than Raycroft's shutouts, none of the other goalies have played consistently better against the Avs than the other teams in the NHL.

2. Small Sample size. If you take out everyone that's played less than 5 games, the numbers even out considerably (except for Richardson):

Last Name First Name Pos Cur. vs COL GP GPG Dif Sh% Dif
Richardson Brad F LAK 9 0.457 11.7
Selänne Teemu F ANA 18 0.298 6.0
Vrbata Radim F PHX 21 0.229 8.1
Reinprecht Steven F FLA 23 0.147 8.8
Brunette Andrew F CHI 18 0.121 2.6
Morris Derek D PHX 22 0.112 8.4
Smyth Ryan F EDM 8 0.075 -0.5
Parros George F ANA 16 0.018 2.0
Tanguay Alex F CGY 23 -0.020 1.6
Rolston Brian F NYI 32 -0.093 -3.6