Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

T.C Denault from Habs World recently wrote an article on Jose Theodore's fall from grace. While it had an overabundance of commas in some, at times, bizarre positions, I did enjoy reading the article. It covers his rise and fall in a neutral tone with no hint of the standard confrontational tone typical of most Theodore discussions. Haters and lovers alike should read it - it's pretty hard to argue against what is said.

If you don't want to be spoiled by the authors summation and probable cause then go read the article first and then come back.

Welcome back! That a lot of Theodore's troubles are mainly within his head is something that many people suspected but it's just so easy to write that off. Why blame his mental state when you can simply say he never had it. The pads were big during his best years. There was more of him to hit back then. It was the "dead puck era". Those ideas overlook the bad years he had before the dreaded lockout ended. Why weren't the pucks hitting him in those years?

I think the main reason I never fell into the Theodore hating camp is that I always felt bad for him. He is obviously a superb athlete - not just anyone can make it all the way to the NHL as a goaltender - and it's tough to simply lose your athletic abilities. However goaltending, more than any other position, requires an incredible amount of composure and intelligence with just the right amount of arrogance and self-confidence.

Patrick Roy had them all in spades. Jose Theodore has them all too. He just can't control them when he needs to.