Who Wore It Best: Number 35
This is cool, #35 is all goalies. Actually, looking at the list it’s not that cool but we muddle through anyway.
Stephane Fiset
Fiset was the Nords 2nd round pick in the ’88 entry draft and he played a few games the next season with Quebec before formally turning pro in 1990. He was a sometime starter, mostly backup before the franchise moved to Colorado where he was the starter until Patrick Roy came to town. He played one minute in the playoffs on the way to the Cup then got traded to LA for the GM’s son. Nice.
Fun fact: Fiset played another minute in the Kings/Avs Conference Semis in 2001, which was more or less the last hurrah of his NHL career.
Rick Tabaracci
The Avs traded Shean Donovan for Tabaracci in December of 1999 but he spent most of that season in the IHL with Orlando and Utah. He played 2 games for Colorado, saving 16 out of 18 shots and earning a win. He was claimed by Columbus in the Expansion Draft that Summer
Tommy Salo
Another in the long list of players to finish their careers with the Avs. He was traded to Colorado for Touchdown Tommy Gilbert by the Oilers in late 2004. He played 5 games going 1-3-1. Not a popular trade
Tyler Weiman
Weiman was drafted by the Avs in the 5th round 2002. He played 16 minutes in a game in 2007-08 and that was his NHL career.
JS Giguere
JSG was drafted by my beloved Whalers in the 1st round 1995 and went on to win a Conn Smythe in a losing effort for the Duck before winning the Cup in 2007. The Avs signed the 34 year old Giguere as a Free Agent in 2011 to back up and mentor young Semyon Varlamov. Since they couldn’t be bothered to have a goalie coach he took that role somewhat too. He pushed Varly and was very solid as a backup going 31-21-8 with a .914 Sv% over 3 years.
JSG also provided some locker room leadership, calling into question his teammates motivations late in the tragic lockout campaign of 2013. He remarked to the press that several guys were more concerned with a trip to Las Vegas than playing hockey which was definitely part of the impetus to purge large swaths of the coaching staff and front office and usher in the Sakic/Roy Era.
Unfortunately his health was a question in the miracle year of 2014 which caused Avs management to light a 2nd round pick on fire in the Reto Berra trade. Berra was signed long term for some reason and JSG joined the many that played their last NHL game in burgundy & blue.
Roman Will
Roman was signed as an undrafted Free Agent in 2014. After bouncing back and forth between the Ft Wayne Komets and Lake Erie Monsters/San Antonio Rampage, he got his big chance in the 2015-16 season, playing the 3rd period in a blowout. He saved 2 out of 3 shots but beat Tyler Weiman’s career by 2 minutes.
Andrew Hammond
An afterthought in the blockbuster Duchene trade last Fall, Hammond lay fallow in Belleville for most of the season, dropping by occasionally to sit on the bench when Varly or Bernie were injured. Late in the season he moved to the Rampage and made a solid start, his first in over 2 months, then popped over to Denver for his one and only Avs regular season start.
With Varly on the shelf thanks to some meaningless shithead on the Hawks, the Avs entered the playoffs with Hammond backing up Jon Bernier, who was dealing with injuries of his own and at maybe 70%. Late in game 4, Hammond got his chance. Hamburglar mania was back. He put on a great performance in game 5 to give the Avs one more home game but neither he nor the team were up to the challenge of game 6. He signed as a UFA with Minnesota earlier this month.
JSG is the most accomplished netminder here but Fiset has his name on the Cup too, and with Colorado to boot. Hammond has the charisma and some recency bias. What’s your take, dear reader? Who wore #35 best?
[qsm quiz=67]
