Theodore Playing Hero Again?

Colorado Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore is having a good year this season, there’s only one problem, this is his last contract season, it seems he’s doing the same thing he did in Montreal.

Theodore is an average goalie at best, than can shine from time to time, but he certainly does not warrant over 6 million a year. Theodore’s record this year is 23 wins, 20 loses, and 2 overtime loses, with a 2.39 goals against average, and a save percentage of .911. Though he has lost 20 games this year, some of those games he played well enough to win, I guess luck was not on his side.

It would seem as though Theodore is playing Colorado, like he played Montreal, meaning that he plays o.k. until it’s time to re-negotiate a contract, then he kicks it up a notch. Jose’s play has been nothing worth mentioning ever since he got the big contract from the Montreal Canadiens, since then his play has declined, it fell low enough for Bob Gainey to rid the Habs of his big salary, now it seems the Avalanche will be in the same situation come seasons’ end.

Unfortunately teams that desperately need a marginal goalie will have a bidding war, teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, possibly Colorado would want to resign him, maybe the L.A. Kings also, the Atlanta Thrashers could also make a bid for Theodore, there are some teams that need a decent goalie, but they must all remember what type of goalie they would be getting, good at best and sometimes ( rarely) great, not the other way around.

Theodore did what he could and eventually got the big contract that all goalies want, but when it came, it seems that the decided to stop playing as good as he was. He can shine periodically but that won’t win you the Stanley Cup unless the team he is playing for has enough talent to cover his mistakes. I hope that no team will give him anymore than 3 million, he’s not worth anymore than that, I would try to pay him 2.5 million to start and see what he would do to earn something higher.

The Avalanche are in the final play-off spot in the west, if Theodore manages to win them a few more games and a round or two in the play-offs, he will undoubtedly ask for enough recompense for his services, to which if I was a general manager trying to sign him would say, ” really, you had a decent year and you went to two rounds in the play-offs, and you want how much for always doing that at the end of your contract? Have you ever made it past the second round? O.k. then, I guess you can go sign somewhere else because we are not giving you 5 million buddy, now get out of my office, I have 5 or 6 million to go and sign a great goalie!”