Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz will miss the remainder of the season and has returned to his home country. While his future is uncertain, head coach Jared Bednar said he'll always be a champion with the team.
Thanks to — now-Colorado Avalanche center — Ryan Johansen when he was with the Nashville Predators, Pavel Francouz entered the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 3 of the first round. Johansen's stick got in Darcy Kuemper's mask and injured his eye removing him from the crease.
Francouz relieved the injured Kuemper to finish the 7-3 win. He started and won Game 4 to finish the series sweep before Kuemper healed and played the entire series against the St. Louis Blues. Kuemper suffered another upper-body injury during Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers and Francouz, again, took over in net. He won the game and started the next three to sweep the series against the Oilers.
Kuemper returned for the Stanley Cup Final and played all but part of Game 3 after giving up five goals on 22 shots and being replaced by Francouz in the 6-2 loss.
"Never would have won without him," head coach Jared Bednar said about Francouz after practice on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Czech Republic goaltender missed the majority of last season due to injury and Bednar said he had adductor surgery during the offseason. He started the 2023-24 season on the long-term injury reserve and on Nov. 12 announced he would miss the entire season and was returning to his home country.
"Even fighting through a lot of injuries and surgeries and whatnot, pinnacle being the playoffs in 2022," Bednar said. "Go six and o in the playoffs with a goalie injured, it's an amazing story. He's a champion with us and we miss him."
Bednar said Francouz had been around and popped in to chat with the players a few days ago.
"We miss him around here, and he's a big part of our championship run, and that's what he'll be remembered for.
"You look at what he did in the playoffs coming after not having played for a little while and the run that he went on. Obviously we had a great team but he was a big part of that. It's always scary when you have a starter and a backup then your starter goes out, especially at the most important time of the year and Frankie (Francouz) elevated his game to a whole new level during that time and was able to keep us advancing and then playing in the Finals — like I said it's an amazing story. Great for Frankie it's something that he'll have with him for the rest of his life," Bednar said.
Francouz's contract ends this season and his future is unclear. If he is able to fully recover from his injuries and surgeries, he could find a spot somewhere in the NHL again. But he'll always have his name on the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.