John Leyba / The Denver Post)
DENVER — The Avalanche lost goalie Calvin Pickard to the Vegas Golden Knights in Wednesday's expansion draft in Las Vegas. Pickard, 25, was left unprotected instead of injury-plagued and big-salaried goalie Semyon Varlamov, 29, who was traded from Washington to Colorado in 2011 by then-Capitals general manager George McPhee, now the Vegas GM.
Pickard led the NHL last-place Avs in save percentage (.904) and goals-against average (2.98) last season, in which Varlamov finished on injured reserve after undergoing hip and groin surgeries. Pickard, who is considered an ideal teammate, also had significantly better statistics than Varlamov in 2015-16.