The Colorado Avalanche said enough is enough when it comes to terrible goaltending.
They came into the season with Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen as their duo between the pipes and, two months later, both goalies are gone. With the team sitting dead last in the league with an .866 save percentage, the Avs completely overhauled their goaltending by trading both Georgiev and Annunen in deals that came just over a week apart.
In late November, Colorado dealt Annunen and a draft pick to the Nashville Predators for Scott Wedgewood. The Avs made another goalie swap on Monday, sending Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, and two picks to the San Jose Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood and Givani Smith. That’s a lot of wood.
Blackwood, who turned 28 years old on Monday, was selected in the second round of the 2015 draft by the New Jersey Devils. After spending a few seasons with New Jersey’s AHL affiliate, Blackwood made his NHL debut in 2018-19 while Corey Schneider was injured and put up a .918 save percentage in 23 appearances. He finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting in 2019-20 after posting a .915 save percentage in 47 games.
The Devils traded Blackwood to the San Jose Sharks for a late-round draft pick after a couple of difficult seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23 in which he dealt with injuries and combined for an .893 save percentage across 47 appearances. Blackwood managed an .899 save percentage in 44 games with San Jose in 2023-24, an impressive result considering how bad the Sharks team was playing in front of him.
Through 19 games this season, Blackwood owns a .909 save percentage. He’s been much better than goaltending partner Vitek Vanacek, who has a .883 save percentage in 12 appearances. Top prospect Yaroslav Askarov has been dominating in the AHL with a .946 save percentage in 12 games and is the team’s future starting goalie, so the Sharks capitalized and sold high on Blackwood. Both Vanacek and Georgiev are free agents at the end of the season and the Sharks will likely try to move one of them ahead of the trade deadline.
For Colorado, these two acquisitions should help stabilize the team’s biggest weakness. The Avs sit in fourth place in the Central Division with a 16-13-0 record. They’re eighth in the league with 95 goals scored but they’re 30th with 103 goals against.

Other news and notes from around the NHL…

  • According to Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek, the Dallas Stars are planning to be aggressive with the bonus salary cap room the team will get with Tyler Seguin on the Long-Term Injured Reserve. Seguin will miss four-to-six months after undergoing hip surgery, a tough loss for Dallas as the veteran forward had nine goals and 20 points in 19 games. “Internally, the feeling is this is THE year to go for it, and everyone from owner Tom Gaglardi on down is aligned. And I mean big-name, big-ticket players both up front and on the back end.”
  • Ottawa Senators owner accused the New York Rangers of “soft tampering” after an article in the New York Post was published that indicated the Rangers would target Sens captain Brady Tkachuk. “This is about protecting our fans, our players and their families,” Andlauer said as he arrived at the NHL’s Board of Governors’ meeting in Florida. “Brady and his wife (Emma) just had a baby. They don’t need that in their lives.” The Rangers released a statement, which read: “This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the commissioner’s office.”