Avs sign goaltender from Czech Republic to 1-year deal

Pavel Francouz. (Nathan Denette/CP)

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche have signed goaltender Pavel Francouz of the Czech Republic to a one-year deal.

The 27-year-old played the last three seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League as a member of Traktor Chelyabinsk. Francouz went 15-11-5 with a 1.80 goals-against average in 2017-18.

Francouz suited up for Czech Republic in February during the Pyeongchang Olympics, where he went 2-2 with a 2.27 goals-against average.

Colorado relied on Semyon Varlamov this season, but he was sidelined down the stretch and into the first round of the playoffs with a knee injury. Backup Jonathan Bernier is set to become a free agent, along with Andrew Hammond who was picked up as part of a three-team trade in November that sent Matt Duchene to Ottawa.

May 2, 2018

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Pavel Francouz

SIGNED BY
Colorado Avalanche
LENGTH
1 yr
CONTRACT TYPE
Free Agency
SALARY CAP HIT
N/A
TOTAL
N/A

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