DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche acquired Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday in an effort to bolster their shaky backup goal management.
The Sabers received Colorado’s sixth round draft pick in a deal agreed a day earlier. The Sabers had to wait for COVID-19 test results after the Boston Bruins, their most recent opponent, had four players enter NHL protocol on Friday.
Buffalo also had to wait for goalkeeper Michael Houser, who was signed on Friday, to lift waivers to avoid calling a goalkeeper to the minors.
The Avalanche has relied heavily on starter Philipp Grubauer this season, with backup Pavel Francouz sidelined due to a lower body injury. Hunter Miska occasionally came in for Grubauer, but he had a tough time, averaging 4.16 goals against.
Miska was recently sent to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League, with Adam Werner recalled from the Eagles.
Johansson is 0-5-1 in seven games for the Sabers this season, with 3.79 goals-against-average and a .884 save percentage and has an overall record of 1-8-2. The 25-year-old was a third-round choice by Buffalo in 2014.
He got more playing time with the Sabers after starter Linus Ullmark sustained a lower body injury last month. Ullmark is expected to miss a few more weeks.
Grubauer was spectacular despite the heavy workload. He is the first Colorado goalkeeper to start at least 20 of the team’s first 25 games since Semyon Varlamov in 2012-13.
The 29-year-old Grubauer already has 17 victories to his name. His best career is 18, which he has had in each of the past two seasons. Grubauer’s 1.82 goals-against-average is the first among the goalkeepers. He also has four shutouts.
“It’s great to have that reliable goalkeeper back there,” said forward Tyson Jost. “He’s been great all year round. We need that from him to keep going all year round.”
The Colorado defense has also been of great help. The team has held opponents to under 30 shots in a franchise record of 18 games in a row. In their last six games, the Avalanche had outshot teams by a combined margin of 259-116.
The Avalanche is 18-8-2 mid-season. Their percentage of .679 is the third-best halfway mark since the team moved to Denver.
The Sabers are on sale mode as they are in a 0-11-2 slip, threatening to extend their playoff drought to an NHL record to match season 10.
This is expected to be the first of many transactions for Buffalo. It has been three days since freshman general manager Kevyn Adams hinted that there would be a roster uproar after coach Ralph Krueger was fired.