Caught In the Avalanche

Number	Player	Position
4	John-Michael Liles	D
5	Brett Clark*	D
6	Jeff Finger	D
7	Johnny Boychuk**	D
8	Wojtek Wolski	LW
10	Wyatt Smith+	C
11	Cody McCormick**	C
12	Brad Richardson**	RW
14	Ian Laperriere	RW
15	Andrew Brunette	LW
17	Jaroslav Hlinka	C
19	Joe Sakic	C
21	Peter Forsberg*	C
22	Scott Hannan	D
23	Milan Hejduk	RW
24	Ruslan Salei	D
26	Paul Stastny	C
27	Scott Parker*	RW
28	Ben Guite	RW
31	Peter Budaj	G
34	Kurt Sauer	D
35	Tyler Weiman**	G
37	TJ Hensick	C
39	Tyler Arnason	C
40	Marek Svatos*	RW
44	Jordan Leopold	D
48	Kyle Cumiskey	D
52	Adam Foote	D
54	David Jones	RW
55	Cody McLeod	LW
60	Jose Theodore	G
94	Ryan Smyth	LW

Key:
C=Center
D=Defenseman
G=Goaltender
LW=Left Wing
RW=Right Wing
* = Injured
** = Split time between Avs/minors
+ = Put on waivers, but remains in minor system

This is the first year the Avs have failed to make the playoffs since their arrival in Denver, but the season was not a total bust. I took a lot of factors into consideration, and a lot of the players had many positives, but one player really stood out to me. While it would’ve been easy to pick Joe Sakic as player of the year again, I picked someone else deserving instead. The player I chose to be the Colorado Avalanche player of the year for the 2006-2007 season is goaltender Peter Budaj!

The strong play of Budaj down the stretch is what helped the Avs to get close to a playoff position. While they ultimately did not make the playoffs, Peter Budaj proved himself as a number one goaltender this season. At the start of the season, Quenneville was splitting the time between Budaj and Jose Theodore. Over time, Budaj proved that he was strong in net and even when the defense was not the greatest in front of him, he played very well.

March was easily Budaj’s strongest month of play as he earned himself NHL.com’s first star of the month. Budaj had an Avalanche best 10-0-2 record during March, beating Patrick Roy’s record of 9 wins in a single month. His ten wins also tied the franchise record for most wins in a month. Over the season, Budaj got used to playing in a lot of games and finished with a decent record of 31-16-6 and a save percentage just over .900.

One of the best parts about Budaj’s record is that he is young and this was only his second NHL season. He is really still adjusting to the length of the NHL season and style of play. Budaj stepped up when his team really needed someone to be strong and consistent and earned himself the position of starting goaltender. 

Another strength of Peter Budaj is that he is a very modest player even as he stepped up and helped to carry the team. He clearly deserved a lot of praise when he was playing at the top of his game, but he often waived it off and gave credit to his teammates instead. While he could’ve gotten a big head, he instead remained very grounded and modest. He is one of the players who stops pretty much every day to sign autographs and chat with the fans and his good attitude carries over to his play on the ice.

It wasn’t easy to pick just one player as the Avs best player this year because so many of them had a decent year. It would have been easy to go another way and chose a player like Joe Sakic, Brett Clark or Andrew Brunette. Instead, I chose to highlight the play of a player who wouldn’t necessarily agree that he deserves the spotlight. Peter Budaj is a young goaltender who has a lot of bright years ahead of him as probably a top NHL goaltender. Keep your eyes for more great years to come out of Budaj and look for him to help take his team to the playoffs next season.

Instead of having the past player of the month articles in full listed here, I’ve chosen to just highlight the past players who have won. However if you wanted to read any of the articles, please e-mail me and I can send it to you.

2003-2004

Player of the Year: David Aebischer

2005-2006

October: John-Michael Liles
November: Dan Hinote
December: Joe Sakic
January: David Aebischer
February: Milan Hejduk
March: Andrew Brunette
April: Brett Clark 
Player of the Year: Joe Sakic

2006-2007*

October: Paul Stastny
November: Joe Sakic
December: Wojtek Wolski
January: Peter Budaj
March: Entire team
Player of the Year: Peter Budaj

*Since the Avs didn’t make the playoffs, I decided to forgo chosing a player of the month for just the handful of games they played in April. I’m not sure why there’s no choice for February…there was probably a reason at the time, but now I can’t remember.