Year-End Review: Reto Berra

Let's have a little refresher at Reto Berra's history with the Avalanche. Berra came to Colorado before the 2014 trade deadline from Calgary in exchange for a 2nd round pick. Most people thought that was a lot for GM Joe Sakic to sacrifice for an unproven goaltender, and almost everyone certainly thought that was the case when his two appearances that season were alarmingly poor against the Jets and Sharks. The next year, he had a mixed bag featuring in some really strong games and some others that were again strikingly bad.

So fast forward to this season. Berra won the #2 goaltender spot to Varlamov in training camp, beating out fan-favorite Calvin Pickard. He started out the season strong, and was arguably doing better in net than Varlamov when the season began. Let's have a look at his game log for games he started from October through November:

Date               Game                 GA          Shots faced         Save %                Final score

10/16              @ANA                  0                   35                    100                        3-0 COL

10/18              @LA                     2                   40                     95                         2-1 LA

10/27              @FLA                  4                    28                    85.7                       4-1 FLA

11/6                 vs. NYR              2                    33                    93.9                       2-1 NYR

11/10               @PHI                 0                     25                    100                        4-0 COL

11/12               @BOS                2                    27                     92.6                      3-2 COL

11/14               @MTL                1                    40                     97.5                       6-1 COL

Pretty solid! His average save percentage was 95.2% with 2 shutouts on the road against teams who ended up making the playoffs, and the Avs went 4-3 in those games as a whole. After the trouncing at Bell Centre, however, Berra's year took a sharp turn south. He only won one more game which was at New Jersey in early December, and lost his other five appearances by allowing at least 4 goals in each of those games.

Then his season got so bad, it ceased to exist. It didn't look that way at first, but NHL.com's lackluster reporting proved otherwise. 

Great call on that one, guys! He ended up not playing another game the rest of the season, because playing soccer, or futbol as some people call it, in the Pepsi Center hallways is apparently dangerous.

Despite that, I'm surprised by his grade from the MHH census. I gave him a C and considered giving him a B. Had our Lord and dictator Ryan Murphy given us the power to use the plus/minus system, I'd have gone with either a B- or a C+. Seeing as how he fell solidly into the D range is a little eye-catching. What are your thoughts, oh great wise and powerful reader?