Pavel Francouz

Francouz was fantastic as a 29-year-old rookie in 2019-20, posting a 21-7-4 record while registering an impressive .923 save percentage and 2.41 GAA in 34 appearances. Philipp Grubauer will almost certainly enter the 2020-21 campaign as Colorado's No. 1 netminder due to his experience, but Francouz will be breathing down his neck, and it's quite possible the two end up splitting the starts pretty evenly if they perform similarly. There will be plenty of wins to go around for each backstop playing behind a championship-caliber Avalanche squad, and while Grubauer certainly has the edge in terms of overall value, Francouz has the makings of a nice No. 2 fantasy option that can be snagged in the middle rounds of this year's drafts.

With battle-tested veteran Semyon Varlamov dispatched to the Islanders in free agency, opportunity knocks for Francouz in the NHL. The lanky netminder -- who spent eight seasons honing his craft between a Czech league and the KHL -- posted a 27-20-1 record, 2.68 GAA and .918 save percentage for AHL Colorado in 2018-19. He stumbled in the Calder Cup playoffs, but not before making an All-Star appearance in the minors. Bound by a one-year, $950,000 contract, Francouz projects to serve as the No. 2 option behind Phillipp Grubauer in Denver this season, though he'll be hard-pressed to register more than 25 starts as an understudy to the emerging Grubauer.