Alexandar Georgiev was traded to the San Jose Sharks by the Colorado Avalanche on Monday for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
The Sharks also received forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft in the trade. The Avalanche added forward Givani Smith and a fifth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Colorado has completely revamped its goaltending in the past two weeks. The Avalanche acquired goalie Scott Wedgewood in a trade with the Nashville Predators for goalie Justus Annunen on Nov. 30. Wedgewood made 25 saves in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in his first start with Colorado.
"I think in Georgiev's case, he's shown that he can be a good goaltender in this league, as evidenced by his win total the last few years, and certainly in his postseason play last year," Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said. "I think, obviously, stats are stats. We obviously were aware of our early season goaltending struggles. That certainly was a part of it. I think when one guy is maybe going through a tough time, you need the other guy to kind of pick up the slack. I think it's tough when both guys are struggling, and I think [Georgiev and Annunen] did at certain times. But I believe both of them are good goaltenders. ... We felt we needed an upgrade a few weeks ago and started kicking tires, but it's not easy to make goaltending trades. I know people think it's just pick up the phone and make an offer. Like teams don't trade starting goaltenders in this league easily. So for us to make these two deals, it was a challenge. Great work by our goaltending department, our scouts, our analytics team."
Prior to trading for Wedgewood, the Avalanche had an .882 save percentage at 5-on-5, which was 31st in the NHL.
"I think it shook us to the core with the rough start, I'm not going to lie," MacFarland said. "I think we came out of the gate really slow, and it's not a secret our goaltending has not been up to standard, and our two guys would be the first to tell you that. It was inconsistent to start, and we felt we had to make a move. So we did."
Blackwood is 6-9-3 with a 3.00 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and one shutout in 19 games (17 starts) this season. The 28-year-old has allowed three goals or fewer in 12 starts while facing an average of 33.0 shots on goal per 60 minutes of ice time, the third most among the 50 NHL goalies to play at least 10 games this season. The Sharks averaged 2.21 goals per game when Blackwood played, fourth fewest among goalies to play at least 10 games.
Blackwood could make his Avalanche debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, ALT, SNP, SNE, TVAS).
"With Mackenzie, we feel like he's just gotten better and better every year," MacFarland said. "He's young. He's been outstanding in San Jose this year. ... We believe there's some untapped potential in him as he's growing as a goaltender, but we feel very excited to add him. He's a big body. He's athletic. We think he's stylistically going to fit really well with how we play."
