The Colorado Avalanche placed goaltender Trent Miner on waivers Saturday, just hours before tonight's puck drop against Toronto.
On paper, it's a routine depth shuffle. But the timing lands awkwardly for a club still waiting on somebody to grab the crease and run with it.
Colorado is 3-1-0 and has outscored opponents by 12. Nobody's panicking in that locker room.
Then again, the offense is covering for plenty. The Avalanche are averaging 5.8 goals per game, which tends to make Mackenzie Blackwood's .895 save percentage look harmless.
Scott Wedgewood hasn't separated himself either, sitting at .897 through three appearances.
So who looks better than both of them on the stat sheet? The goalie Colorado just exposed.
Miner played four NHL games with the Avalanche last season and posted a .933 save percentage, with a shutout mixed in.
Blackwood and Wedgewood still haven't locked down the Avalanche crease
Small sample? Absolutely. Career-wise, the 25-year-old has appeared in just six NHL games, carrying a .920 save percentage.
The bigger body of work sits in the AHL, and it's trending the wrong way. With the Colorado Eagles last season, he finished at .904 over 32 games.
A year earlier, he'd posted a 2.12 GAA for the same club. That dip won't go unnoticed by teams doing their waiver homework.
Here's the problem for GM Chris MacFarland. Miner is cheap, carrying an $850,000 cap hit through 2026-27 before reaching RFA status.
That's exactly the kind of contract a goalie-needy team grabs without blinking.
Waiving him now is a bit like leaving your spare tire on the curb because the car's been running fine for a week.
It's a gamble Colorado didn't need to take. Neither NHL goalie has earned a long leash, and the backup plan just got posted on the league-wide bulletin board.
Jared Bednar now has to ride two goalies through a stretch that gets busy fast.
After Toronto, Colorado visits Dallas on Tuesday and hosts the Stars on Wednesday. Back-to-backs like that test every inch of a goalie depth chart.
Pittsburgh arrives two nights later.
If Miner clears, this becomes a footnote. If he doesn't, Colorado finds out how thin that crease really is the first night Blackwood or Wedgewood can't go.
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Is waiving Trent Miner a mistake the Avalanche will regret this season?
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