Avalanche sends Alexandar Georgiev to San Jose in multi-player trade that nets goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Dec 9, 2024

Published in Hockey

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NEWARK, N.J. — The Colorado Avalanche has made another significant shakeup to its goaltending depth chart.

Colorado traded starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder Monday to the San Jose Sharks for goalie MacKenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and a 2027 fifth-round selection, the club announced.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the deal was in the works. Chris Johnston of The Athletic reported the Avalanche is retaining 14 percent of Georgiev’s salary as well.

Blackwood, who turned 28 years old Monday, was a second-round pick by the New Jersey Devils in 2015. He is 6-9-3 with a 3.00 goals-against average and .909 save percentage this season for the Sharks.

This is Blackwood’s second season with the Sharks. New Jersey traded him to San Jose in June 2023 for a sixth-round pick, and he signed a two-year, $4.7 million contract with the Sharks four days later. His cap hit for this season is $2.35 million, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in July.

Blackwood’s best season was in 2019-20, when he posted a .915 save percentage in 47 games and looked like the clear-cut goalie of the future for the Devils. He’s had injury issues and problems with consistency since, but is currently having his best season compared to league averages since then.

This is the second trade for a former Devils goalie by the Avalanche in 10 days. Colorado sent backup goalie Justus Annunen to the Nashville Predators on Nov. 30 for Scott Wedgewood.

Wedgewood has stopped 77 of 81 shots in three appearances for the Avs, including the club’s first shutout of the season Sunday night in New Jersey against his former club.

The Avs have had to navigate the worst injury/availability situation in the NHL this season, but they’ve also had to try and survive inconsistent, and often bad, goaltending. Even with Wedgewood’s impressive start to his Avs tenure, Colorado is last in the NHL in team save percentage at .866, according to Natural Stat Trick. The second-worst team, Columbus, is at .875.

Georgiev had a strong final start with the organization Saturday night, helping the Avs win in Detroit. Still, Georgiev is ranked 79th (out of 80) in goals saved above expected at negative-9.4, per Money Puck. Annunen, who has only played once for Nashville since the trade, is 65th at negative-3.7.

Blackwood is 20th at 3.9 GSAx. Wedgewood was in the red during his time with the Predators, but he stopped 3.18 above expected in his 26-save shutout Sunday night against New Jersey.

Annunen and Kovalenko are the last two members of Colorado’s 2018 draft class still playing in the NHL. Kovalenko played on all four lines for the Avs this season, and flashed the potential to be an NHL regular moving forward.

Smith, 26, is bigger, but with far less offensive upside than Kovalenko. He has nine goals and 22 points — along with 260 penalty minutes — in 161 career NHL games. He was also in his second season with San Jose — Smith has one goal and four points in 42 games for the Sharks.

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