Avalanche Acquire Blackwood, Dump Georgiev to Sharks

Avalanche Acquire MacKenzie Blackwood, Dump Alexandar Georgiev to Sharks

It’s been a while since goaltending has been a true strength of the Colorado Avalanche. Even when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022, it was more in spite of Darcy Kuemper‘s efforts in net than because of them. Philipp Grubauer, Semyon Varlamov, and others before him had provided solid play at times. But none were the driving forces that Patrick Roy was when leading Colorado to its first two Stanley Cups.

Alexandar Georgiev was never expected to reach that level of play, but the high hopes Colorado had when acquiring him from the New York Rangers after Kuemper signed with the Washington Capitals following the Cup win were largely met in first season. Georgiev posted a solid .918 save percentage, tying his career-best. While the team bowed out in a first round upset, Georgiev wasn’t the main problem, recording a nearly identical .914 SV%. At just 26 years old, it looked like the Avs had their goalie of the future.

But just as quickly as promise developed, cracks began to show. Georgiev posted a sub-.900 SV% last season and entered the playoffs completely off his game. Without a strong backup, Georgiev kept the net, and did help Colorado to a first-round victory. However, his .894 playoff SV% left much to be desired.

The worst case played out for team and goalie early this season, with Georgiev a total shell of the version that arrived in Denver two years prior. As of Monday, only Utah Hockey Club’s Connor Ingram (-10.9) ranked below Georgiev (-9.4) in goals saved above expected. Also as of Monday — Georgiev is no longer a member of the Avalanche.

This is San Jose Sharks’ general manager Mike Grier‘s latest way to take advantage of the team’s cap space. Greer bought low on Mikael Granlund, the team’s leading scorer with 30 points, in the Erik Karlsson trade in 2023. He picked up a second round pick for taking on Jake Walman from the Detroit Red Wings and should be able to turn both into draft picks or prospects in the near future. Georgiev will be arguably be the toughest reclamation project of them all, though.

That being said, a second round pick is a solid price to take it on, especially with Colorado retaining 14% of Georgiev’s $3.4 million cap hit ($476,000). Nikolai Kovalenko and Givani Smith are basically just depth forwards trading teams. There’s a chance Kovalenko could be something more as he has an intriguing track record in the Kontinental Hockey League.

MacKenzie Blackwood was once an afterthought himself, falling quickly out of favor with the New Jersey Devils after once being a fairly high-regarded young goalie. But he’s turned things back around this season. His .909 SV% is his best since his sophomore season (2019-20) and he’s a top-20 goalie in GSAE (+3.9). He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season, and he’ll have a great opportunity to position himself much better than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago.

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Advanced Stats via MoneyPuck.com